American Idols On the March

Time flies and all of that: American Idol auditions are over and version 4 returns to Fox in January, a mere hop, skip and calendarial jump away. But there is a flurry of activity going on right now with various Idol personages as the machine begins to crank itself up once again.

First, in some very happy news, AI3 finalist, the lovely, charming and talented Latoya London, 25, who should have duked it out with Fantasia for the crown, signed her first record deal with independent label Peak Records (Regina Belle, Glenn Jones, Phil Perry, David Benoit, The Rippingtons) today.

Peak Records President Andi Howard has grand plans for her newest artist. "Latoya will follow in the footsteps of Whitney Houston and the other great female R&B singers that shaped the genre. She's smart, beautiful, witty and incredibly talented. When I saw her perform on American Idol, I was simply blown away. I am absolutely delighted that she has now joined our family."

Peak is partnered with Concord Records , which recently scored a multi-platinum hit with Genius Loves Company, the final recording from Ray Charles.

Oakland-native London is currently working on material for her debut release, which will primarily feature R&B originals, and is due out in the summer of '05. In the meantime, she will serve as the Grand Marshal of the Amazing Kids Parade in Orlando, FL (11/26), the Oakland Holiday Parade (12/4) and the San Jose Holiday Parade (12/5). Also on December 5th, the singer performs for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation in San Francisco, and on December 11, she appears at the "100 Black Men of the Bay Area" gala which raises funds for youth mentoring and education.

Glad to see it, she rocks.

Next week on the tube, the winners of the first three Idol seasons, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino, will star in a new Fox Christmas special, called Kelly, Ruben and Fantasia: Home For Christmas, singing songs from their new solo album releases as well as holiday classics.

Article Author: Eric Olsen

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and former publisher of Blogcritics.org, and former publisher of Technorati.com, which both rule. He is now editor, co-founder, and CEO of The Morton Report.

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