Love it or hate it, American Idol is of the most popular shows in America. Artists from the Top 12 have gone on to be superstars in many genres, including Christian, Gospel, Top 40/Pop, and Country. Many of them either started in the church or ended up on the Gospel charts.
Season 8 gave us five more folks with a background in Christian music. Danny Gokey was the praise and worship leader for Faith Builders International Ministry. Kris Allen worked with the music ministry at New Life Church. Michael Sarver led worship at Harvest Church. Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre both regularly performed at their home churches.
1. RJ Helton
B-riteSeason 1 on AI gave us RJ (Richard Jason) Helton, who was voted off on 8/14/02 in fifth place. In the fall of 2003, Helton was signed by B-Rite Music and his debut album,
Real Life, hit stores in 2004. The release came in at No. 14 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums chart but had lackluster sales and Helton seemed to fade from view.
On October 18, 2006, Helton appeared as a guest on SIRIUS Satellite Radio host Larry Flick's show "OutQ in the Morning." When asked why he no longer sang inspirational music, Helton replied, "I can have a faith but can't be who I want to be. So a lot of it was just personal things I needed to overcome and just be proud of who I was. … Just because I am gay does not mean I can't love God."
2. Ruben Studdard
J RecordsThe season two winner, Ruben Studdard, debuted with an R&B album (
Soulful) that sold over 400,000 copies in its first week of release. His second release came from his gospel roots and was titled
I Need an Angel. It debuted on the gospel charts at #1 as the highest selling gospel debut since Kirk Franklin's
Nu Nation Project in 1998 and eventually sold over 500,000 copies. Album number three,
The Return took him back to R&B and album number four, which will release on May 19, 2009, will be titled
Love IS.
3. George Huff
Courtesy of Word RecordsAfter growing up singing in church, George Huff came into the national spotlight on Idol's season three. He stayed on the show until 5/5/04, when he was eliminated in fifth position. After the Idol tour, Huff had offers from several labels, but signed with Word. His debut release was a Christmas EP titled
My Christmas EP and it hit stores in 2004. A year later
Miracles came out and
George Huff hits stores on April 7, 2009.
4. Carrie Underwood
Frazer Harrison / Getty ImagesCarrie Underwood, the season 4 winner, started singing as a young child in church. While her genre is country (and she has 50+ awards to prove how good she is at it), her faith-based roots still shine through. Her single, "Jesus, Take the Wheel," won six awards, was named the 2006
Grammy Country Song of the Year as well as the
Dove Country Single of the Year, and as a ringtone, sold more than one million downloads and was certified Platinum.
5. Chris Daughtry
Frederick M. Brown / Getty ImagesChris Daughtry made it to the number four spot on season five, getting voted off of the show on May 10. While he is a rocker through and through, he writes music that comes from Christian roots and represents a Christian life perspective. As a matter of fact, Chris belonged to a Christian rock band called Absent Element prior to Idol.
He has toured with Day of Fire , his album single "Home" has done well on Christian radio and he sang back-up vocals on "Slow Down," (from Third Day's album Revelation.
6. Mandisa
Sparrow / EMIBorn and raised in Citrus Heights, California, Mandisa grew up singing in the church. She did session work as a backup singer for a wide variety of artists including Christian author and speaker Beth Moore, Sandi Patty, Shania Twain, Take 6 and Trisha Yearwood prior to American Idol's fifth season. Mandisa was voted off in 9th place on April 5th and went on to sign with Sparrow Records in early 2007 after the completion of the Idol tour.
Mandisa has released two gospel albums and two Christmas albums (one full-length and one EP).
7. Chris Sligh
Michael Buckner / Getty ImagesPrior to American Idol's sixth season, Chris Sligh was no stranger to music or the church. The son of a military chaplain, Chris began his love affair with music in high school. College was pre-law at Pensacola Christian College until he transferred to Bob Jones University to get a degree in music in his sophomore year. He excelled musically to such an extent that he was invited to audition both for The Juilliard School and the Metropolitan Opera in New York but those kudos didn't keep him from getting expelled during his senior year when he was caught attending a Christian rock concert.
8. Jordin Sparks
2007 Getty ImagesJordin Sparks took the season 6 Idol title in 2007. She came to the show as the “Overall Spotlight Winner” for the GMA Academy in 2004 and with experience touring as a background singer with Michael W. Smith.
After Idol, Jordin signed with Jive Records and hit the Pop charts hard. Though her songs are more wholesome than religious, she herself is both and she embraces the challenges of being a Christian in a secular world.
She explained during an interview with 'Everyday Christian.' "My faith has been a humungous part of how I have looked at my career. I started out singing in church very young and it took off from there. With my purity stance, I'm very careful about what I wear and the lyrics in my songs.
9. Lakisha Jones
Evan Agostini / Getty ImagesAt the age of five, Lakisha Jones started singing at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in her hometown of Flint, Michigan. From there it was on to singing with the award-winning Madrigal Singers of Flint's Central High School followed by a degree in music from University of Michigan-Flint. After a move to Houston, Jones worked at Abundant Life Cathedral and sang in their 70-member choir for six years.
After leaving Idol in the fourth spot on May 9th and the Idol tour, Lakisha didn't sit idle long. She joined the cast of 'The Color Purple' on Broadway as the Church Soloist and as Sofia during the matinee performances.
Jones' debut album, So Glad I'm Me has a release date of May 19, 2009.
10. Melinda Doolittle
Kevin Winter / Getty ImagesNo one who heard season six'er Melinda Doolittle sing on American Idol would believe that she was tone deaf all the way up until 7th grade and was regularly told by her chorus teacher to "just mouth the words," but she was. Eventually the music major from Belmont University overcame it so much that she worked as a professional back-up singer for artists like Aaron Neville, Anointed, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Kirk Franklin, Alabama, Jonny Lang, Michael McDonald and Vanessa Bell Armstrong. Then came American Idol ...
The third place finalist signed with independent label Hi Fi Recordings in the summer of 2008 and released her debut CD, Coming Back to You on February 3, 2009.
Kevin Winter / Getty ImagesIn 2006, when Phil Stacey auditioned for American Idol, he was the music minister and a Petty Officer Third Class in the U.S. Navy. He was also an expectant father, who ended up missing the birth of his daughter McKayla, who was born while he was waiting his turn to sing.
None of that kept him from going all the way to the top six though. In fact, his family, his church and his Navy buddies were some of his strongest supporters. The Navy even allowed him to go on the Idol tour instead of coming back to duty.
After Idol, Stacey released a country album but less than a year later, switched gears to Reunion Records, who will release his debut in 2009.
