Tamyra Gray

Why not start with the woman who started off American Idol...Tamyra Gray.

Tamyra was my favorite contestant throughout the first season, and as corny as it sounds I still remember her first performance. While just about every contestant from season 1 would have struggled to even make Hollywood (in fact, I imagine a few of them may have been highlighted as "bad auditions" had they auditioned in the past few years) but Tamyra was one that would still be able to hold her own even today.

So what happened? Idol was still a baby, and didn't have the infrastructure to promote more than one budding star. They obviously did quite well with Kelly, but it seems that Tamyra was left behind by the producers. Perhaps if she had showed up in a later season there would have been enough capital for them to throw their weight behind her. That said, had Tamyra not been in the first season, there may not have been later seasons (yes, her presence was that critical to the show's success).



So, what has she been up to? She was signed by Simon Fuller after the show, and released her first album, The Dreamer. Unfortunately it didn't move enough copies to please TPTB, and she was dropped. Since then her focus has moved to film and Broadway; she had a recurring role on Boston Public (as a student with a talent for singing, natch), and played Priya in the short-run musical Bombay Dreams and Mimi on the iconic Rent. She made an videotaped appearance on a season 7 elimination show (was it the Andrew lloyd Webber episode? That would make the most sense...) where she spoke about her experience on Broadway. She was also debuting a pretty different hairstyle as well.


photo credit: http://godblessthedreamer.typepad.com/

At the moment, she is recording a new album and looking for a label. As with every post here, as I find more information I will post it.