‘Idol’ contestants have it easy: At 12, judge Kara DioGuardi sang in front of 1,000 people including Sophia Loren
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- September
- 13
Kara DioGuardi’s singing career never really took on Kelly Clarkson proportions, but she knew at an age younger than all “American Idol” contestants what it’s like to sing in front of huge crowds with a celebrity in the audience.
DioGuardi’s father, a former Republican Congressman who now lives in Ossining, told me that when Kara was just 12 years old, she gained confidence singing at Manhattan’s Waldolf-Astoria hotel in front of 1,000 people for a Columbus Day event, whose grand marshal was actress Sophia Loren:
“She brought the house down. Sophia ran up to her and I said, ‘Sophia, can I take this picture?’ And they both looked at me with two of the greatest smiles you could find.”
As I wrote in an article that appears in today’s edition of The Journal News, he said that ovation gave his daughter the confidence to perform in front of large crowds, a skill the Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer needs in a different way as the newest judge on TV’s top-rated “American Idol.”
(Photo by and courtesy of Joe DioGuardi)
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