Katie’s Beer

I’ve been hearing about Chris Sligh for a while now, as I surf through various American Idol sites. Finally got to hear his voice last night and I was pleased. He sang one of my all time favorite love songs, “A Kiss from a Rose” by Seal. I later learned that Chris had an interesting road to finally making it on American Idol. Chris Sligh has auditioned several times before, but timing and image got in his way. I found his blog and read it with great interest…

Chris Sligh on the American Idol image:

“As a singer, I am not what one thinks of as a great singer. I have a good voice and I have even better tone; but my voice is not overly-different, nor is it overly-elastic…I just sing and hit every pitch I come on in key and can stay on note. As a solo artist and now with my band, I get comments constantly on how refreshing it is to hear someone who can actually sing. I mean, I’ve won national awards for both singing and songwriting, so why the freak am I not a major label artist? I have come to realize the answer is….IMAGE!!!

Chris Sligh on his many attempts to make American Idol:

Orlando, 2004:

2 years ago, I drove all night down to Orlando, where I tried out for American Idol the first time. I got in line, waited, then found out I had to wait for another line the next day. SUCK!!! I got no sleep one night and then got 4 hours the next night and chose an N*Sync song…bad idea. I sucked pretty bad. But I did learn a little about the show…namely get sleep before trying to sing. Also, I learned that the show is NOT looking for the best singers…

Chicago, 2005:

Last year, my wife and I decided to make AI a vacation. We drove up a couple of days before hand to Chicago, got a hotel, relaxed, hung out with some friends up there and showed up when I had to show up and that was it. I still didn’t get a ton of sleep, but hey I was okay. The problem this year was that the weather had said it would be sunny and 85 degrees. It ended up being rainy and 70 degrees, and we were in Soldier Field the windiest venue possible and it was freaking freezing. By the time I sang, I felt like an icycle, plus I started my song too high and cracked on the highest note. SUCK!!! I drove home defeated once again.

Memphis, 2006:

Nigel looked at me, looked down and then went into it: “Well, Chris, you don’t have a bad voice at all…in fact, you might have one of the best voices I’ve heard today…but your performace just…isn’t there. You have to get out of yourself and use your space. It just wasn’t good enough.” If he hadn’t been right, I would have argued, but he was actually right. So I walked out defeated.

Birmingham, 2006:

As I walked in, Nigel looked at me and said, “Haven’t we seen you before? You’re going to fall down and your glasses and wig fall off?”

“Um, no, my hair’s real,” I said, pulling on it to demonstrate its veracity. “I did sing for you in Memphis though, and I had a question about that. I sang ‘Kiss from a Rose’ before and I’d really like to sing it again.” “I didn’t put you through with that song did I?”, said Nigel.

“Well, actually you acted like you liked that song, but I sucked up the Elvis song pretty bad. Remember, I had my words written on my hand and you had me hold my hand up to the camera?” He smiled and leaned back with a contented look on his face, “Ah, yes, now I remember. I guess you can sing the song again, but it’d better be good.”

I gathered myself and started singing and got through the first verse and chorus. I started the song very low and it definitely hampered my ability to wail on some of the higher notes, but I just tried to hit every note well. It seemed like he enjoyed but he asked for a 2nd song. I chose “Trouble” again and I nailed it. I mean really. By the 2nd line of the chorus, I saw it in his face that I was going through to the next round. I finished and he waved his hand. “Well, that was nice wasn’t it…get your ticket.”

I think Chris is one to watch!

On a less serious note, I think Chris (or one of his friends) will be good at self-promotion.  He has already announced that he wants his fans to call themselves “Fro Patrol” (showing more of a sense of humor than seriousness) and someone named Wacky Wade has already created a “Chris is my Idol” t-shirt.  I didn’t check to see how many had sold.  Heck, I haven’t even bought a Taylor Hicks t-shirt yet and I’m the biggest fan I know of.  I did, however, spend $60 bucks on a U.S. Pond Hockey sweatshirt for my son two weekends ago.  I do have my priorities in order!

Tags: American Idol 6 //