This is just a riot
"Kristy Lee Cook - "Amazing Grace"
A pretty blonde who lives in Oregon in a log cabin, rides and trains horses, loves nature and can kick your ass! No, seriously, she knows martial arts. She's also a cage fighter and a highly-trained kickboxer. I wonder if she kicks if you stand behind her and startle her? She's got a cute personality, a bit of a country twang and a great voice. Compliments all around and she was on to Hollywood. Simon advised her to come in with more confidence next time."

She was good, then Rainy posted this...

August 7, 2001

Kristy Lee

Kristy Lee Signs In Triplicate with Arista, Britney, and BMI

Brand-new Arista Nashville artist Kristy Lee continued to establish her roots in Music City by signing a songwriter affiliation deal with BMI at their Nashville offices. In addition to her label contract, Lee recently inked a deal with Britney Spears' newly-formed production company as its debut artist. Superstar Spears, a BMI affiliate, has already agreed to make a cameo appearance in Lee's first video.


Making it official at BMI Nashville are (seated) Kristy Lee and her mother, Carlene Cook; (standing) BMI's Mark Mason, Patsy Bradley, David Preston and Paul Corbin. photo by Beth Gwinn


Then I googled her, since the above was an old article, and voila!
http://www.rendleman.net/kristy_biography.htm

So much for being a rank amateur.
And she had to sell her horse to get to Philly??????????Too bad, so sad!

So it just makes me wonder .....................

Didn't realize this was just a show to get national recognition. Silly me thought it was supposed to be an amateur singing competition. How naive we've been. I'm really not that familiar with the backgrounds, other than some of the AI5 contestants but I'll bet if you went back to the beginning you might find a lot that had this kind of experience.

Found here:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1579672/2...115/index.jhtml

As proof of this, the site points to several alleged season-seven contestants, including Carly Hennessy, an Irish singer who was signed to MCA Records and released a solo record, Ultimate High, which sold just slightly more than 300 copies, despite a multimillion-dollar push by her label, according to The Wall Street Journal. Or Kristy Lee Cook, a country artist once signed to Arista Nashville and managed by Marty Rendleman, who previously helmed LeAnn Rimes' career.


I tried youtube, and was wondering if you think this is her singing??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viV17YQeKhY

and this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK6fcsjw4qI

You know I was wondering why they had their little story (ideology) about someone so far away from Oregon, and to have her home filmed??? Didn't you think that odd?

I'm confused, I read they can't be actively signed? Do you think she doesn't make it or drops out because she was signed with Britney?

Here's her website announcing she was signed

http://www.kristylee.net/


and her video debut from her site

http://www.kristylee.net/dvd.htm

Wow, so she's actively signed and still needs AI? So it pretty much means that she ain't good enough to be successful on her own :rotfl:

My guess is that she's no longer signed. If you look at her cite, nothing has happened since June 2005

I went to the FAQs on the AI cite and found this:

Q - I've noticed that several contestants have professional music experience, including TV appearances and on Broadway, I thought you were only looking for amateur performers?

A - In order to be eligible, the contestants are not permitted to have any CURRENT recording or talent management agreements.

Well on her myspace: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea...endid=305762194

It says she was dropped.

Kristy was signed by RCA and put on their Arista label. A promotion deal with Britney Spears was put in place, and it seemed that stardom was imminent. Kristy was 17 when the label put some of their young acts, including Kristy, on hold and then dropped them.

OKAY, SO HERE'S MY QUESTION...
dID SHE JUST "HAPPEN" TO GET BY THE FIRST AND SECOND AND THIRD AND FOURTH ETC. ROUNDS OF JUDGING B4 SHE GOT TO THE PRODUCERS, AND ULTIMATELY RANDY, PAULA AND SIMON.

I SERIOUSLY DOUBT IT. I AM PRETTY CERTAIN THAT SHE PROBABLY HAD AN "IN" LONG BEFORE WAITING IN A LINE OF THOUSANDS IN pHILLY.

And I seriously doubt that she sold her horse in order to get to Philly.

Well here's an article stating

Fans are up in arms this morning about the overrepresentation of professional singers on the new season of American Idol. Referring to Ricky.org

It also mentions: Additionally, Brooke White — the 24-year-old nanny who claimed she'd never seen an R-rated movie (and was impressively able to make a Corinne Bailey Rae song sound even more boring) — has 13,000 MySpace friends and pictures of herself sharing a stage with Kiefer Sutherland. Rickey says he's "too lazy to do the research" but speculates that she, like Cook, has probably released an album too. We're also too lazy to do the research, but from the looks of White's MySpace page, he's probably right.


http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/...definitely.html

eta: I'm beginning to think they had a seperate audition for the producers for a few and then just spread them around to different cities. Oh wait, Kristie Lee had to sell her horse to get to the audition.

Geesh, you guys are harsh. LOL My opinion is that it is what it is. They haven't made it past Hollywood yet.

I guess we are being ultra defensively snarky. But we're dealing with American Idol here! LOL!

sometimes it's difficult to realize that American Idol is just a television show. :rotfl:

I guess I don't understand what's wrong with American Idol. After all that's what brought us Elliott, as well as some might fine other talented people. I've been watching since Season One. But that's just me. Carry ON! LOL

All I have to say is, there will never, EVER be another season like 5..or contestant as raw, and talented and DESERVING as Elliott. I have nothing against these contestants that have had a "past" in music, but to me, personally, I think there are soooooo many young people out there that never got a chance at any kind of a "break", and that is what I thought the show was about. People like Elliott, who never got a break, DESERVED a break, and APPRECIATE it more than life.

But who am I, and everyone deserves a chance I guess, and without AI...we wouldn't HAVE Elliott;)

;)

thanks Chloe for the post...this kind of thing just takes all the fun out of Idol..
But I think we all know if someone special comes along America will see it.. :elliottcap:

What bothers me is how these 2 girls were portrayed by the show. at least in the audition round. Had we not found out about their backgrounds, we would have thought they had no previous professional experience. Even if they don't currently have a contract, why show us all the background video? They could have just come in and sung like most of the others.

My only problem with having semi-professionals, etc.....is that they are trying to dupe the public into thinking they are just regular folks, trying to get a break. The premise of the show has always been, discovering America's untapped talent, but that is not the reality of what is going on. Fine. But please don't just assume that everyone watching is too "ignorant" to realize what the deal is. It's a bit insulting.

I think Elliott may have been one of the last genuine amateurs. Yes, he had recorded a background vocal for BigPlanz, but that was a random event, not a career path.

STILL.......I am beyond grateful to the show. Whatever happens, we have already found THE true American Idol....in every way.

She probably rode it!

Sorry, Harley, for being so snarky, You're right , that's what brought us Elliott, but ya know after witnessing all the crap that went on in season 5 and 6( didnt watch b4 then), I thank God that Elliott managed to get through all the muckedy muck.Of course he deserved to probably WIN, but in retrospect, I am glad he didn't. BUT HE SHOULD HAVE!

;)

I am actually a little surprised that people think that AI is about amateurs. I've said it once, and I'll say it again: AI has never been a place for amateurs, at least not since I've been watching (season 4)... EVERYONE on AI has had at least *some* experience prior, and many contestants have had a LOT of experience prior (even Elliott had already recorded vocals for a record before AI, and his only experience was supposed to have been singing at karaoke bars.. remember the way people were infuriated with that, because he claimed to have "no experience"?). People who are serious about wanting to be in biz will have a lot of past experience and a glitzy resume.

Like Linda4Elliott said it is the duping of people into believing these folks are amateurs. The way they portrayed Kristy they had us believing this was her first shot at anything big and selling her horse to get there...now come on we know now how contrived that story was.

I'm with you. It says right on the AI cite that anybody is eligible as long as they don't have a current record deal.

:yeahthat:

Thanks for clarifying the rules. I always thought that amount of musical background did not matter. As long as they do not have a contact currently, they are good to go.

It will be interesting to see how many of the former professionals will make the Top 10 and tour.

Well, I don't like her anyway. :) I don't think she'll win it UNLESS they pimp her to the bone then that's a problem!