Big thanks to CathyEm for finding this new story on Elliott:

The official American Idol site has a new article on Elliott!!

http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=795


Clear Channel information is HUGE!!!!

Sk8888

Great story! And great that he is being recognized by Idol!!!

Dateline: May 3, 2007 by Miles


Hickory Records recording artist and former American Idol Finalist Elliott Yamin’s Spring is shaping up with momentum building at all fronts. “Wait For You,” the first single from Yamin’s self-titled CD has debuted at #1 on the Mediabase Pop Callout Charts and he will be Clear Channel’s “NEW! Discover Music” Online featured artist for June. Yamin is also set to perform at NASCAR on May 4th and 5th and will begin a twenty-one city tour on May 15th.

Yamin debuted his self-titled CD on March 20th and entered the Billboard charts at #3, making him the highest new artist debut on an independent label in soundscan history. The CD also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Independent charts (where it remains) and #2 on the Billboard R&B charts.

Yamin is one of the first American Idol finalists to release a CD independently and has created a new model for success through a forward thinking strategy through his liaison with Three Ring Projects, Sony/ATV Hickory Records, Croshal Entertainment Group, Pulse Recording and Red Distribution.

The achievement represented by Elliott Yamin is all the more significant because the singer co-wrote the lion’s share of its songs. “I’m a baby in this game, and I’m not afraid to admit it,” he says. “Collaborating on the songs with these talented people who’ve been involved in music way longer than me and who share my passion for it has been an incredible experience. I’ve learned so much from them as an artist and as a person.” Among the writer-producers who participated in the creation of Elliott Yamin are the duo known as Stargate (Beyoncé, Ne-Yo, Rihanna), Josh Abraham (Pink, Linkin Park, 30 Seconds to Mars), DJ Lethal (Evanescence, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone, Baha Men, David Byrne), and Derek Bramble (David Bowie, Vanessa Williams, Lalah Hathaway).

Yamin’s story began when he appeared on last season’s American Idol. The secret was on its way out well before Yamin finished third in the fifth season of “Idol” (in a historically close race behind Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee) when early in the competition, the ever-prickly Simon Cowell deemed him “potentially the best male vocalist in the history of ‘American Idol.’” And after the release of his debut album, Elliott Yamin few could believe this accomplished vocalist was once too embarrassed to sing out in his middle-school choir class.

Perhaps even more compelling than Yamin’s status as an out-of-nowhere vocal powerhouse is the fact that he came to “AI” with no vocal training and no real performance experience. It is his role as the underdog, who as a child had to cope with near-deafness in his right ear and at 16 was faced with Type 1 diabetes.

Since then, Elliott has learned how to live with his diabetes and has for five years worn an insulin pump, which takes most of the guesswork out of self-treatment. But his vivid memories of those difficult early years have inspired him to visit children and teens at the American Diabetes Association’s summer camp in Pittsburgh. “Hanging out with those kids and sharing my story is really important to me,” he says. “It was always in my mind that if I actually made it far enough on ‘American Idol’ and the audience got familiar with me, I’d be able to let people know more about diabetes. I knew I could help bring it to the forefront and educate young people about this disease, which most people who don’t have it don’t really understand.”

Yamin has exceeded that goal, getting his fans involved in his efforts to raise funds for the Richmond chapter of the ADA and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. “I’ve donated the clothes I’ve worn on ‘Idol’ and onstage during the tour and anything I’ve been widely photographed wearing. I’ve also donated ‘AI’ memorabilia and autographs for fundraisers,” he informs. “But I don’t feel I’ve done enough yet – there’s just so much more to do.”

ETA: Boldface added by Sk8888

True that, but he's been recognized quite a few times but I think people have missed that. :)

That's a real nice article. I have seen a few there on Elliott. I'm sure it's also good publicity for AI. (yeah I had to say that). Anyway, for whatever reason I'm glad to see such a nice write up there.

Yeah, I wasn't implying he has been slighted - just that this is a good, visible mention.

They have covered all of the season 5 crew about the same, save a bit more for Daughtry. I think Season 5 crew was so much more compelling than this seasons' crew that the less hoopla over last year's group the better for this season.

Hickory Records recording artist and former American Idol Finalist Elliott Yamin’s Spring is shaping up with momentum building at all fronts. “Wait For You,” the first single from Yamin’s self-titled CD has debuted at #1 on the Mediabase Pop Callout Charts and he will be Clear Channel’s “NEW! Discover Music” Online featured artist for June. Yamin is also set to perform at NASCAR on May 4th and 5th and will begin a twenty-one city tour on May 15th.

WOW, this is great news!!! The momentum is building for WFY and this should be an outstanding month with the June news being a great way to continue his success

Totally agree. It's all good in the neighborhood. :)

I think it's awesome - totally awesome!

Nice article. Can anyone explain what it means to be Clear Channel's featured artist for June? It sounds good but what exactly does this mean? I'm hoping it means more radio play.

This is fantastic!! I had sent an e-mail to one of the popular radio stations in my area telling them about Elliott and asking them to listen to his music to judge for themselves. They come across as music snobs sometimes but they do typically pay great music and I always got the impression that they prided themselves on finding great "new" talent and indie artists. I summarized Elliott's wonderful story and personality (they do a lot of live studio recordings at their station and release a cd of them on a regular basis w/ profits to charity and thought Elliott really fit well with their causes). I didn't receive any response whatsoever and I've been a bit ticked by it. They are a Clear Channel station so it will be interesting now if they'll showcase him in their Discover New Music section on their website. Had they listened to him in March they'd be way ahead of the game and be the pioneers in the industry that I used to think they were.

Ok, done w/ my vent! :lol:

Funny, I don't think we know EXACTLY what it means.

I hope what it means is that there will be a picture of Elliott on all Clear Channel radio web sites, featured in a prominent location, like you may have seen with Chris Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, Matt Kearney or Gwen Stefani.

For those Clear Channel stations that have yet to play "Wait For You" it will be interesting to see what kind of leeway they all have in what goes on their respective web sites.

Sk8888

Thanks SK888. That's kind of what I thought it meant. By June he should hopefully be getting close to cracking the top 20 on mediabase so this will help if he's prominently featured on these clear channel homepages.

Plus, it seems sort of odd not to give a "featured artist" a spin once it's pictured and highlighted on the station web site, wouldn't you say?? :grouphug:

Sk8888

Well, of course, I went to the website of the Clear Channel station that I used to listen to before I started listening to stations that play Elliott (mostly Sirius) but anyway at the bottom of their home page, and I've seen it on other Clear Channel stations at the bottom as well, is a box that is labeled "NEW Discover Music" and it may feature a picture of a new artist but if you click on it you can sample new artists' music.

Here is a link I found at my radio station but it is no longer on the front page. :(

http://www.kbco.com/cc-common/mfeatures/

Scroll about 2/3 of the way down the page and the NEW Discover Music is on the left side of the screen. But it seems to be the same logo that I've seen on many other Clear Channel stations.

Wow!! What a great article. It made me cry!Happy cry, that is. I STILL havent heard E on the real radio, and I hope I don't have to wait till June. Just hoping that when I do hear it, there isn't a lot of traffic around, cause God knows what'll happen!
:etrain:

all I can say is....WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

WTG E!!! ;)

xxoo

Haha, I almost had to pull over and calm down when I first heard WFY on my car radio. I had been waiting for a really long time to hear it because the stations in my area have been dragging their feet, so it was surreal when I finally heard it. It took a few seconds to register... "That sounds familiar... it's Elliott!!!!!" lol... I was giddy.

This is a great article on the AI site! I love it when they recognize him because I'm sure that site gets a lot of visitors and it's good promotion for Elliott. And Clear Channel is HUGE!!! :grin:

Most big stations are Clear Channel. Hot 99.5 in DC is Clear Channel.

This is awesome news

It's great, since there are soooo many radio stations owned by Clear Channel, and radio websites, as we know, have artists competing for room. I had wondered if Croshal and Three Rings had managed to get an "artist of the month" nod somewhere (McPhee was last month's artist for Time Warner, for example).

Who knows? It may also translate into increased radio play, throughout the Clear Channel network and on XM Radio (Clear Channel now provides service for about half of XM's radio offerings).

Sounds cool. Here's the ClearChannel Discover New music page:

http://clearchannelmusic.com/cc-common/new/5/indexhit.html

Clear Channel owns 1,100 full-power AM FM radio stations and ten sattellite radio channels on XM Radio, and more than 30 television stations in the USA among other media outlets in other countries. They are HUGE! This is really great for Elliott!

The "featured" artist looks like HelloGoodbye, is that right?

Sk8888

I knew they were big, but didn't realize THAT big. Just about every top 40 web page I've been to, has Clear channel on the bottom.

Thanks for that info.

It looks like there is a different featured artist for each genre. Wonder if Elliott will be in the HIT section or R/B

He should be the HIT section, most of their HIT stations are playing him, and that is where he is closing in on the top 25 at.

yes, indeed...

did you know Elliott is one of only two AI alumni, NOT signed by 19E, that are allowed to sell their albums on the 'American Idol' website? Evryone else is from the 19E catalog. Elliott and Jon Peter Lewis score sale placement.

I'm glad I was able to discover this little gem today. I usually don't get any internet time during the day but took the day off and was surfing while having lunch at Panera. I had actually clicked on a link somewhere to view the AI 6 tour dates and noticed a link on the AI site.

Thanks, SK888, for posting it more prominently!!

nice catch! really wonderful! u rock sweetie! ohhh....am hopin an prayin and wishin for some E luv at da finale! oh yeah! let it be! oh please! thud!! ;) :thud: :rocker: :glomp: :bounce:

Thanks, CathyEM. I really enjoyed reading the article and also all the talk about Clear Channel. It is great to see all that is happening for Elliott. He really has a good team behind him and who knew he would be such a good businessman! :wub: