American Idol Season 3

Fantasia Barrino

The third season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2004. The winner of this season of American Idol was Fantasia Barrino, later known professionally as simply "Fantasia," and the runner-up was Diana Degarmo. This was also the season that Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was discovered.

During the audition process Alonzo Munyeneh of Absecon, NJ was the first prospective contestant to ever be arrested for their actions during their audition. Munyeneh finished his performance of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" and was told he did not make it to hollywood. He then became beligerant and started tearing the set apart. He shouted obscenities at the judges while ripping down lighting rigs and knocking over the judges' table. He was finally restrained by security and the authorities were called to take him away. No one was injured but the judges were visibly rattled and had to take a break from the process for a few hours.

The early part of the season introduced William Hung, a UC Berkeley student, who received widespread attention following his off-key rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs." His performance, as well as his positive attitude facing Simon's criticisms (a stark contrast to other contestants' confrontational, angry reactions), landed him a record deal with Koch Entertainment and made him over $500,000 in record sales. He also starred in a Cingular Wireless commercial with host Ryan Seacrest.

During the season, controversy over the legitimacy of the contest increased as rocker Jon Peter Lewis and young crooner John Stevens stayed afloat while others were unexpectedly eliminated. Jasmine Trias, despite negative comments from Simon Cowell over her later performances, survived elimination and took the third spot over Latoya London. Trias later released a CD and attracted fans in her home state of Hawaii, the Philippines, Singapore, Guam and other South East Asian countries. The third season was also shown in Australia on Network Ten about half a week after episodes were shown in the U.S.

After a nationwide vote of more than 65 million votes in total - more than the first two seasons combined - Fantasia Barrino won the American Idol title over runner-up Diana DeGarmo. She released her first single in June 2004 on the RCA record label. The single included "I Believe" - cowritten by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray (who also sang backup) - which Fantasia performed on the finale of Idol, the Aretha Franklin hit "Chain of Fools" (released before on an American Idol compilation), and her signature version of "Summertime". The single entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, making Fantasia the first artist in the history of Billboard to debut at number one with their first single. The song remained at the number one for one week (it topped the sales chart for 11 weeks in the US and 10 weeks in Canada). Fantasia's CD, I Believe, went on to become the top selling single of 2004 in the U.S and has since been certified double platinum by the CRIA and received 3 Billboard Music Awards. In 2006, she received 4 Grammy nominations for her double platinum debut album Free Yourself.

Sales of Diana DeGarmo's first CD, Blue Skies, suffered partly from a lack of promotion by RCA. DeGarmo eventually asked to be released from her RCA record contract. She received a role in the Broadway production of Hairspray, where she played the part of Penny Pingleton from February 7-May 21 to positive reviews. DeGarmo then starred with Melba Moore in the national tour of Brooklyn the Musical through mid-August. On September 8, she returned to the Broadway production of Hairspray to once again assume the role of Penny Pingleton for a six month period. DeGarmo is also working independently on a second album while performing in the musicals.

Second Runner-up Jasmine Trias signed with an independent label. Although she has failed to achieve commercial success in the mainland USA, she has become a major celebrity in other countries, such as the Philippines and Japan, where she is signed with Universal Records.

Latoya London signed with Peak Records and released an R&B/soul album, "Love & Life," selling 55,000 copies. Her single, "Appreciate/Every Part of Me/All by Myself," charted at number 8 on the Billboard Singles Sales Chart, and her songs, "Appreciate," "Every Part of Me," and "State of My Heart," all received moderate success on urban and adult contemporary radio. She starred in the Los Angeles revival of the retro-musical, "Beehive," and also starred with Angie Stone and Kim Fields in the tour of the play, "Issues: We All Got 'Em." Latoya will begin playing the role of Nettie in the touring edition of the Broadway musical, The Color Purple, which will begin with an extended run in Chicago, Illinois in April, 2007. The musical also stars Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child.

George Huff signed with Word Records to release a gospel album and has since had mild success in that genre. John Stevens landed a deal with Maverick Records but was dropped due to low album sales.

Jennifer Hudson starred alongside Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx in the 2006 feature film Dreamgirls and won several honors and awards, including a Golden Globe for her performance and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film, which also won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), was released to preview audiences on December 15, 2006, in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, drawing sellout crowds. On its first day in wide release (Christmas Day 2006), Dreamgirls sold 8.8 million dollars worth of tickets to claim the top spot at the box office. It was the single highest daily gross for a musical in motion picture history. The soundtrack to Dreamgirls, featuring Hudson's acclaimed version of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," reached Number One on the Billboard Top 200 album chart on January 10, 2007, after five weeks in release. Hudson, who signed a recording contract with Clive Davis' Arista label in late 2006, is expected to release her debut album sometime in 2008.

Camile Velasco returned to the Philippines in December 2004 after 17 years for a whirlwind tour of television appearances and a concert with Martin Nievera. In 2005, she signed to Motown Records, but left the label after a lack of promotion for her first single. Camile performed at several concerts in Hawaii, California and Illinois, maintaining her ambition to become an artist. In 2006, she appeared in a Black Eyed Peas video and performed in Hawaii, California, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and the Philippines. Camile is now writing and producing her own songs on UHype Records.

Eleventh place contestant Matthew Rogers is now a TV personality, starring alongside Mikalah Gordon on American Idol Extra, which went behind the scenes of American Idol's fifth season.

In May 2005, Telescope announced that the third season had a total of approximately 360 million votes.

First Aired: January 19, 2004
Last Aired: May 26, 2004

Notes:

• There are 43 episodes in this season.

New Casts Member:

1. Donnie Williams as Disqualified
2. Amy Adams as Tenth Place
3. Fantasia Barrino as Winner
4. Diana DeGarmo as Runner-Up
5. Jennifer Hudson as Seventh Place
6. George Huff as Fifth Place
7. Jon Peter Lewis as Eighth Place
8. La Toya London as Fourth Place
9. Matthew Rogers as Eleventh Place
10. Camile Velasco as Ninth Place
11. John Stevens as Sixth Place
12. Jasmine Trias as Third Place
13. Leah LaBelle as Twelfth Place

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