American Idol

They are the moments we watch an entire season to see. It’s that last few minutes of the finale when the winner is announced and the first performance as the nation’s newest American Idol.

So, in preparation for Tuesday night’s Season 7 premiere, let’s take a few minutes to remember those moments from the first six seasons.

Kelly Clarkson: A Moment Like This

Ruben Studdard: Flying Without Wings

Fantasia Barrino: I Believe

Carrie Underwood: Inside Your Heaven

Taylor Hicks: Do I Make You Proud

Jordin Sparks: This Is My Now

American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks

Jordin Sparks responds after it’s announced she was the sixth winner in American Idol history. Sparks was the fourth female and youngest winner ever on the show.

Four girls. Two guys. In the first six seasons of American Idol, twice as many females have won the top prize — a recording contract and instant fame. And the two guys recently lost their recording contracts. So, does it matter if you’re male or female when it comes to capturing America’s votes on the FOX reality hit?

I’m not sure it does, but here’s a look back at the lives and success of the first six Idol champions.

Kelly Clarkson
Born Kelly Brianne Clarkson, this 25-year-old has enjoyed major success since becoming the first American Idol winner. In September 2002, Clarkson beat out runner-up Justin Guarini with 58 percent of the votes.

Clarkson, who is set to start touring this week with country superstar Reba McEntire, has released three CDs — Thankful, Breakaway and My December. Thankful debuted in April 2003 at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and since has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Breakaway sold more than 11 million copies, and last year’s My December has been certified platinum (1 million copies).

The original Idol is a Grammy Award-winning musician, and she seems to be slowing down no time soon. Let’s just hope she doesn’t attempt to recreate Grease in another box-office flop like From Justin to Kelly.

Ruben Studdard
Born Christopher Ruben Studdard, the 29-year-old was known as “the Velvet Teddy Bear” and often wore jerseys featuring “205″ to honor his native Birmingham, Ala., area code. Studdard garnered 134,000 more votes than runner-up Clay Aiken to take the Season 2 title. About 24 million votes were cast for that season’s finale.

Studdard has released three discs — Soulful, I Need an Angel and The Return. Soulful debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, but none of the CDs have garnered major attention. In all, Studdard has sold just more than 2.4 million albums total, which led to his recently being dropped from J Records for falling short of label expectations.

Aiken has released four CDs since the show and has become a much more successful artist. In fact, aside from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, no finalist on the show has sold more albums.

Fantasia Barrino
Fantasia Monique Barrino simply became Fantasia when she started her rise to the top during American Idol’s third season. She drew much attention — and a little controversy — for being a single mother. She ultimately beat out runner-up Diana DeGarmo in May 2004 by earning 1.3 million more fan votes.

After taking the title, Fantasia released her debut, Free Yourself. Four Grammy nominations followed. In 2006, her second CD, a self-titled album, was released. But it has been success on the Broadway stage in The Color Purple that really has helped Fantasia make a splash on the music scene. The singer also released a book on the heels of announcing she struggled with literacy.

The critically praised acting Fantasia does on stage in The Color Purple certainly is not the same kind of praise she got from her role as herself in the made-for-TV movie Life is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story. Of course, it was Lifetime’s second-most-watched program ever.

Carrie Underwood
She has, without question, become the most successful American Idol winner. Carrie Marie Underwood, now 24, beat out Bo Bice to take the Season 4 title.

Upon the release of her debut, Some Hearts, it was clear Underwood soon would be a country superstar. She won numerous country music awards, as well as two of the four Grammys in which she was nominated for in late 2006. Some Hearts produced a number of hit singles, helping it lock in several weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard country charts.

Last year, Underwood released her sophomore effort, Carnival Ride, which was certified double-platinum in December. The singer has sold more than 13 million albums in just two years.

Taylor Hicks
He arguably has the most vocal fans of any American Idol winner. Despite the Soul Patrol’s support, Taylor Hicks (born Taylor Reuben Hicks) has not found major success on the music charts.

After beating out Katharine McPhee to win Season 5, Hicks released a self-titled disc featuring the blues and classic R&B sounds he was known for on the show. Unfortunately, the disc failed to sell even 1 million copies and resulted in being dropped from his record label earlier this month.

Hicks is a strong live performer and continues to tour post-Idol, just as he did before rising to fame on the reality hit. Much like many other contestants, Hicks also released a book about his life, Heart Full of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way. It officially is the longest title for any memoir released by an Idol contestant.

Jordin Sparks
She was the youngest American Idol winner ever. So, it was quite an impressive run for Jordin Sparks (born Jordin Brianna Sparks), who beat out beat-boxing Blake Lewis to win the Season 6 Idol crown.

The teenager, much like other winners Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks, never was in the bottom two or three during elimination episodes of the show. Sparks’ self-titled debut CD was released in November and features the first single, Tattoo. The CD has sold more than 450,000 copies since its release.

Sparks recently released her second single, No Air, which is a duet with Chris Brown.

So, what do you think? Even though the numbers and awards seem to show Carrie Underwood is the most successful winner to date, do you think someone else is the ultimate American Idol?

American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks

If you haven’t picked up the January copy of Glamour magazine — and you’re a Carrie Underwood fan — you’ll definitely want to check it out.

The Season 4 American Idol winner-turned-country megastar graces the cover in a white and pink dress with her signature smile and long blonde hair. Inside, Underwood talks about going from a small-town girl to a six-time platinum-selling artist, thanks to her debut Some Hearts.

Glamour sent the singer to Max Azria and J. Mendel fashion shows with a diary to take notes. One of the pages from the diary is printed as part of the spread. “Max had some really beautiful skirts and dresses that were very flowing and feminine! I loved the muted colors!” she wrote.

Underwood talks to the magazine about her rise to fame, which included the most surreal moment of her last year — attending the Grammys.

“The Grammys were pretty awesome — to look across the aisle and see Ludacris,” she said. Hmmm. Who would have thought Carrie Underwood to be a Ludacris fan?

As part of the magazine’s 365 beauty tips and tricks, Idol alum Jennifer Hudson also is featured in the “6 reasons to try bangs already” section. She’s pictured alongside stars including Jennifer Garner, Kate Moss and Halle Berry.

Both Underwood and Hudson were part of the recent Movies Rock, which featured a star-studded cast of popular musicians singing favorite tunes from classic movies. Underwood delivered an incredible performance of Julie Andrews’ title song from The Sound of Music. Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson performed Somewhere from West Side Story.

American Idol, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Movies Rock, Glamour

She may be the most famous of all American Idol contenders. At least Barbara Walters thinks so, even if she didn’t win her season.

Jennifer Hudson, the Academy Award-winning actress who lost out on Season 3 of Idol to Fantasia Barrino, had long been a favorite contestant on the show. She often wasn’t loved by Simon Cowell — who is, really? — but a few short years later, she made a comeback on the big screen, starring as Effie White in the smash-hit musical Dreamgirls.

Now she can add “fascinating” to her list of characteristics since news icon Barbara Walters added her to the list of The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2007. This has been somewhat of a Cinderella year for the Chicago-area native, who has put off releasing her debut to pursue what already has been a successful film career.

Aside from her much talked-about role as Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant in Sex and the City The Movie, Hudson also is appearing in 2008’s Winged Creatures.

“This is the year Jennifer Hudson got to go to the ball,” Walters said on the one-hour CBS special, where she talked with the singer and actress about her career rejections. That started at the young age of 7, inside a church.

“I still remember to this day coming home from church crying because they would never give me a solo,” Hudson said.

As far as her Idol “loss,” Hudson added, “If anything, I felt challenged.”

While all is looking positive at the moment, Hudson did say she’s just enjoying the success as it’s here — in the moment.

“All good things must come to an end,” she said. “Your time is your time. And right now is my time. I just try to enjoy it for what it is, every single moment.”

Jennifer Hudson, American Idol, Barbara Walters, 10 Most Fascinating People of 2007

The Pony-Hawk could be making a comeback on stage. Seattle-area native Sanjaya Malakar will be back on stage Dec. 2 as a special guest in two productions of Black Nativity at Seattle’s Intiman Playhouse.

Sanjaya, who was a favorite contestant during American Idol’s sixth season, will perform a solo at the 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 performances. Also performing solos at those performances will be former Idol contestants Karma Johnson and Leah LaBelle (who now goes by Leah Vladowski). All three singers are alumni of the Total Experience Gospel Choir, founded by Pastor Patrinell Wright, who has been musical director of Black Nativity: A Gospel Song Play since it was started in 1998.

LaBelle was a top 12 finalist on Season 3 of Idol. Johnson appeared as a contestant, but she was not a Hollywood finalist during the show’s first season. Sanjaya, of course, was favored by many for his enthusiastic — if not always on key — performances and always talked-about hairstyles on the show.

According to a release, Black Nativity is a “celebration of faith, expressed through exuberant performances of song, story and dance, and reaching audiences of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs.” This year’s Idol connections are certain to draw a much more pop culture-based audience, at least at the Dec. 2 shows. Black Nativity’s 10th anniversary production will begin Nov. 28. Shows continue through Dec. 28 at the Intiman Playhouse, 201 Mercer Street in Seattle Center. Tickets are available by calling (206) 269-1900 or online at www.intiman.org.

Carrie Underwood is now part of another No. 1. Disney’s Enchanted was No. 1 this holiday weekend at the box office. The film features a song from the Season 4 American Idol winner, Ever, Ever After.

The film raked in $35.3 million across the United States and Canada, where it played in 3,730 theaters.

Enchanted tells the story of a princess who is transported from her fairy-tale life into real-world New York. The princess is played by Amy Adams (not the Season 3 Idol finalist), and the film also features the voices of Patrick Dempsey and Susan Sarandan, among many others.

American Idol, Carrie Underwood, Amy Adams, Enchanted