Top 20 'Idol' Contestants of All Time - 3: Chris Daughtry
-
- January
- 15
It first appeared Season 5 of “American Idol” ended too soon for Chris Daughtry, whom many considered the favorite to win that season’s competition.
Turns out it might not have ended soon enough. Although his fourth-place finish left Elliott Yamin, Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks to battle for the title, it might just have given Daughtry the head start to pursue one of the fastest-launching, most versatile and most lucrative music careers in “Idol” history—one that, for the time being at least, is more relevant than Yamin, McPhee and Hicks combined.
On the show, I actually had issues with Daughtry’s vibrato, not unlike a sheep being shoved through an oboe. It was noticeable in his otherwise-legit performances of Seether’s “Broken” and Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.” But you know he was doing something right if a band he covered later offered him to become its lead singer, Judas Priest/Mark Wahlberg-style.
After said take on Fuel’s “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” in an early “Idol” voting round, I thought Daughtry was a fool to turn down the band’s offer once he was eliminated from the show. Then he proceeded to tone down the sheeprato (in the studio, at the very least) and crank out hit after hit with a band ID’d by his last name. Shows what I know.
Before you say anything, don’t dismiss Daughtry as the mere “rocker” from Season 5. Regardless of how much (or little) you like his music, it fits into so many radio station formats. In New York, for example, you can hear him on modern alternative rock stations (the outstanding “What I Want,” featuring Slash), adult contemporary/easy-listening stations (the ubiquitous “Home”) and pop stations (the Fuel-like “It’s Not Over” and rock-pop “Over You”).
If you didn’t hear “Home” or “It’s Not Over” at some point in 2007, you must be Amish. Daughtry’s first album alone has sold 3.6 million copies and was Billboard’s top-selling album of 2007.
While Clay Aiken’s sold more than 6 million total albums since 2003, you’re less likely to hear Aiken on a Top 40 station these days. And, um, good luck requesting an Aiken song on K-Rock here in New York.
OK, say the nay-sayers, so it’s one album. But Daughtry’s done more in one year than most of the contestants on this list have achieved their whole careers. And he might just be getting warmed up.
Also see:
– Top 20 ‘Idol’ Contestants of All Time – Epilogue-No. 1: Kelly Clarkson
-No. 2: Carrie Underwood
-No. 4: Jennifer Hudson
-No. 5: Sanjaya Malakar
-No. 6: William Hung
-No. 7: Clay Aiken
-No. 8: Fantasia Barrino
-No. 9: Blake Lewis
-No. 10: Tamyra Gray
-No. 11: Jordin Sparks
-No. 12: Melinda Doolittle
-No. 13: Bo Bice
-No. 14: Elliott Yamin
-No. 15: Ruben Studdard
-No. 16: Katharine McPhee
-No. 17: Taylor Hicks
-No. 18: Diana DeGarmo
-No. 19: Frenchie Davis
-No. 20: Lisa Leuschner
-Honorable Mentions (Nos. 31-21):
No. 21. Justin Guarini
No. 22. Kimberley Locke
No. 23. Antonella Barba
No. 24. Corey Clark
Nos. 25 and 26. Jonathan Jayne and Kenneth Briggs
No. 27. Kellie Pickler
No 28. Nikko Smith
No. 29. Anwar Robinson
No. 30. Ryan Starr
No. 31. Mario Vasquez
(Photo courtesy of FOX.)
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 11:30 am by Chris Serico.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Share and Enjoy: del.icio.us Digg Reddit Google StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo! | 
Print
| 
Email
Chris Daughtry sang "Broken" by Seether. Seether doesn't have a song called "Higher Ground".
That was a computer-generated HTML error involving links. I was aware of the problem and am in the process of fixing it.
"OK, say the nay-sayers, so it’s one album. But Daughtry’s done more in one year than most of the contestants on this list have achieved their whole careers. And he might just be getting warmed up."
... well said—I totally agree. And my money would be on "just getting warmed up."
Pshaw! Daughtry is lame. His next cd will tank. He's just the flavor of today. History will prove it once we've moved on from the Nickelback era.
Chris D. does nothing for me! I can't see him as having a lot of staying power. Where's he gonna be 10-15 years from now. He's certainly not someone I would make an effort to go and see.
Chris is versatile? Every song sounds the same. He'll be gone after this current cd.
He's just getting started. He's a sweetheart of a guy too, so that helps. Love his music and I know that he has a large fanbase that will be supporting him for MANY years to come. I hear his next CD will be even better than this one.
Clay Aiken #7?, I'm speechless. So glad Elliott's in the top 20, he deserved to be there, he sometimes doesn't get the respect he's earned. Anybody know when Melinda's putting something out?
I'm a Taylor Hicks fan, but I love Daughtry's cd and his new release FLT.
I think if anyone is still holding a grudge against Taylor or his fans for winning AI when everyone thought it was going to be Daughtry.. they should surely be over it by now. Winning AI carries a lot of baggage that Chris did not need. Remember the line.. be careful what you wish for..
So anyway… YEA! Daughtry!
Thanks for the great article on Chris!
The first CD doesn't have his band on it: Joey Barnes-drums/vocals, Josh Steely-lead guitar, Josh Paul-bass, and Brian Craddock-guitar. This band LIVE is amazing!!! They are all seasoned, talented musicians and songwriters – I'm really looking forward to the sophomore CD. Chris and HIS BAND- DAUGHTRY are most certainly just getting warmed up.