American Idol 8 Contestant’s Profiles

This season of American Idol looks to be a good one with the premier launching on January 13th. The big new feature that has been released to the public is that Kara DioGuardi will be addedto the judging panel for American Idol 8. Who knows what new twists could be added in the weeks leading up to the commencement of the show. There have been several video’s released on the official American Idol website.

Kara DioGuardi

Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, and singer who has contributed to a long list of internationally successful popular songs. She writes music in the light pop-rock genre. She will be a judge on the eighth season of American Idol. DioGuardi has worked with Celine Dion, David Archuleta, Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Paula Abdul, American Idol’s other female judge.

In 2003, DioGuardi won a BMI Cable Award for cowriting and performing, Somethin’ To Say, the theme to the now-cancelled Lifetime Television series For the People, which starred Lea Thompson, Debbi Morgan, A. Martinez and Cecilia Suarez. In 2007, she was named BMI’s “Pop Songwriter of the Year” for 2006, as she had accumulated 10 BMI awards in the previous four years for having written the “most performed songs on the radio”. To date, she has had over 46 albums in the Top 10 on Billboard magazine’s 200 album chart. Her songs are on various hit albums that have altogether sold over 100 million copies.

In 2007, DioGuardi was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the category of Best Song for her writing on the Belinda single, “Bella Tracion” along with co-writers Belinda, Mitch Allan, Ben Moody and Nacho Peregrin.

DioGuardi co-owns Arthouse Entertainment, a publishing company that is a resource business for record companies and other music entities seeking compositions, productions, artists, and related music services. Arthouse has been a part of many chart-topping hits including Cassie’s “Me & U” (written and produced by Ryan Leslie), Jim Jones’ “We Fly High” (written and produced by Zukhan Bey), Nick Lachey’s “What’s Left of Me”, David Archuleta’s hit single “Crush” (written and produced by Eman Kiriakou), Mika’s “Grace Kelly” and also OneRepublic’s “Apologize” and “Stop and Stare” (all produced by Greg Wells), and Faith Hill’s “Lost” (written and produced by Kara DioGuardi and Mitch Allan).

DioGuardi continues to work with the Phoenix House, a non-profit substance abuse service organization. She contributes to recording studios in the facilities and helps teach the teens how to operate the equipment. (www.phoenixhouse.org)

In July 2006, DioGuardi was a judge in an “Idol”-like show called “The One: Making a Music Star.” The show debuted on ABC with the second-lowest rating ever for a premiere on a major American network and was abruptly canceled after just two weeks.

She will join the hit FOX television show American Idol as a fourth judge starting in the show’s 8th season (January 2009). In 2000, DioGuardi co-wrote (with fellow Idol judge Paula Abdul) the UK number-one single “Spinning Around”, performed by Kylie Minogue. She has written many songs sung by Idol winners and alumni such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, and Katharine McPhee. When asked how she will do as a judge, Dave Stewart said: “I think it’s gonna be good, because Kara has always been dealing with artists who are just starting out, or young artists. And she’s an amazing singer, so she can tell straightaway if somebody’s got it.”