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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > June > 16
Monday, June 16, 2008
6/17: Simon Cowell ranked No. 22, Ryan Seacrest at No. 62 in Forbes Celebrity 100
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Simon Cowell landed at No. 22 on the Forbes magazine Celebrity 100 list, down from 21 last year.
It’s a combination of pay, Web rank, press rank and TV rank. Simon made an estimated $72 million, ranked 65 among the top 100 in Web rank, 47 among press rank and 40th among TV rank.
Ryan Seacrest moved up from 76 to 62, ahead of Gwen Stefani, right behind Maria Sharapova. He made an estimated $31 million, No. 72 in Web rank, 70 at press rank and 33 at TV rank.
Carrie Underwood came in at No. 79, with $9 million in pay, 35 in Web rank, 63 in press rank and 44 in TV rank.
Oprah was No. 1, of course, just like 2007. Top Web rank was Angelina Jolie. Tiger was No. 1 in press rank. And Oprah was No. 1 in TV rank.
Some surprises—Beyonce was No. 4 and David Beckham was No. 5. Jay-Z was all the way up to No. 7 ahead of the Police and J.K. Rowling. Atlanta’s Tyler Perry is at No. 42 with estimated pay of $125 million. Savannah’s Paula Deen came in at No. 100.
-His boys can swim! Josh Gracin is expecting his fourth child.
-The Kelly Clarkson/Reba McEntire show is back but again, not coming to Atlanta. Closest spot? November 14 in Birmingham.
-I’ve gotten one person so far who wants me to interview Paris Bennett before her AARP concert appearance Saturday at Philips Arena with Chaka Khan, Queen Latifah and the like. Anybody else?
-My quickie “Nashville Star” recap: I’m mildly appalled that Melissa Lawson (right) landed in the bottom two by America’s votes on “Nashville Star.” She arguably had the best performance last week but she looks more Wynonna Judd than Taylor Swift. And maybe that’s her problem. She survived, thanks to a band Third Town that thought reviving the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Elvira” last week was a good idea. The band even admitted that was a bad song choice in retrospect. “Mountain Music” by Alabama this week wasn’t much better. Maybe if this was Nashville Star 1982. But it’s 2008, people!
I’m not sure Melissa Lawson helped herself this week by picking a very non-country song in Aretha’s ‘Natural Woman,” which she did well but not quite as well as a certain Kelly Clarkson six years ago. Best performance this week? Gabe Garcia. Love that guy! He’s got the best male pipes of the show. Hottest? Well, Ashlee Hewitt and Justin Gastin both are lookers. Ashlee has strange pronunciation issues while Gastin was plain ghastly trying to do a Plain White T’s song. Alyson Gilbert, the Martina McBride lookalike, made a nice comeback. Most annoying? Shawn Mayer. Maybe it’s those huge lips or something but she seems totally fake. Pearl Heart is adorable but no way they’re going to win this as SheDaisy Lite.
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6/16: Frenchie Davis coming to Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Happy Monday to you all!
Season two “Idol” tryout Frenchie Davis, ousted early because of that controversial Web exposure, is coming to Atlanta for an Atlanta Pride concert July 3 at the Civic Center with Expose (“Come Go With Me,” “Seasons Change,” “Let Me Be the One,” “Point of No Return”), Thelma Houston (“Don’t Leave Me This Way”) and CeCe Peniston (“Finally”), to name a few. Tickets range from $17.50 to $50 and can be purchased here.. I plan to interview her soon. Any questions you’d like me to ask? She spent a few years doing “Rent” on Broadway. I’m not sure what her current situation is in terms of recording music. Not surprisingly, the gay populace likes her. She was at L.A. Gay Pride over the weekend with Kimberly Caldwell and Kimberley Locke.
-Season five’s Paris Bennett is at a soul and inspiration concert sponsored by AARP this Saturday at Philips Arena with Ann Nesby (her grandma), Chaka Khan, Dionne Warwick, Patti Austin and Queen Latifah. As you can tell, Paris is not the headliner. And after last year’s experience, I’ll ask your sage advice: should I reach out to her and get an interview? Or not?
-In an impressively boring court case, the musicians union filed a lawsuit last week against “American Idol,” claiming its members had been underpaid because the show’s live music was rerecorded during “American Idol Rewind.” Yawn.
-Paula Abdul is single again, E! News says. So, single men, have at her! She and restaurateur J.T. Torregiani broke it off months ago, “Idol” host publicist Jeffery Ballard told E!. Torregiani’s publicist (he has a publicist? Who is he?) insists he’s still dating her.
-[Ken Barnes at USA Today took two weeks off after “Idol” and is only now catching up with sales numbers. The top 5 albums are Carrie, who is now up to 2.16 million with “Carnival,” Jordin at 804,000 (If her third single “One Step At a Time” is a hit, she should surpass 1 million easily on top of the 3 million plus downloads she already has), Daughtry at 4.1 million (not sure if there’s a fifth single in the till for him or not), Carrie’s 1st album (6.45 million) and Clay’s fast-dropping album, at 137K and already down to 162 on the charts. Kelly’s “Breakaway” album has passed 6 million, Kellie is up to 766K (She is on pace to hit 800K), Josh Gracin 48K, Phil Stacey 29K, Bucky 356K, Kelly’s “My December” at 768K (yes, I think Pickler’s will ultimately outsell this album), Blake 298K, Bo 56K, Chris Slight, 6K, though 11K including some Christian accts not tracked by SoundScan), Elliott, 510K, Mandisa, 57K; Fantasia 514K, Randy 30K, Clay’s “Thousand” at 527K, Kat at 371K, Taylor at 702K, Kimberley 21K. Those are all the acts who sold at least 100 copies last week. Ruben and Constantine fell below the threshold.
