For those who don't noe, I'm a very big fan of American Idol.... have been watching it since season 2 and I haven't miss a single episode since.... actually, the Idol fever caught me during one of my lazy Saturday evenings in front of the TV.... I was tuning in to one of my favourite talkshows, ABC's 20/20.... this was where I witnessed the crowning of the 1st American Idol, Kelly Clarkson.... at tat moment, I din expect tat it would hit me so hard in the months to come when AI season 2 came to Singapore.... I was totally blown away by the excellent performances by amateur singers in America.... This was also the time I completely stopped listening to Chinese pop songs from HK, Taiwan and Singapore.... the disparity between the quality of the singers was too huge....
For the benefit of those who haven't caught AI before, let me give you a brief introduction and highlights of the various seasons:
Season 1:
Winner - Kelly Clarkson
AI launched Kelly to her present day superstar status..... having won 2 Grammys in 2006, Kelly is by far one of the most successful American Idols .... not having watched AI 1 since it's not aired in Singapore, I had to search the net for audio and video clips of her singing..... and she really blew me away with some superd performance. They included Aretha's 'Respect', 'Natual Woman' and 'Stuff like that there'. But the most memorable had to be her winning song 'A Moment Like This'.
Runner-up - Justin Guarini
Season 2
To me, it was a tie between the 'Guy from MAD' and the 'Velvet Teddybear'... the former is Clay Aiken and the latter is Ruben Studdard... 
Personally, I rooted for Clay because of his stupendous rendition of the classic, 'Bridge Under Troubled Water'... search youtube for his video.... it's really amazing.... But the title eventually went to Ruben for his smooth voice and consistent performances
Season 3:
Winner - FANTASIA BARRINO
Barrino, a 19-year-old single mother , with a powerful, gospel-tinged voice, topped DeGarmo, an effervescent 16-year-old. It was a clear win from the start. Simon Cowell menioned tat Fantasia is the best contestant ever of any idol show in the world.... tat says a lot... She gave consistently superb performances..... Her defining moment, ie when it was clear that she was going to win, was her performance of 'Summertime' from the musical 'Porgy and Bess' when the judges gave her standing ovations (actually she got many standing ovations from the judges, probably the most received as compared to the other Idol winners.... yes tat includes Kelly Clarkson)..... Personally, my favourite performances are 'Fool in Love' and 'I Believe' ... Since then she's gone to pick up 4 Grammy nominations for her debut album 'Free Yourself', a first for any Idol winner.... I shall stop now or I'll never end.. hehe