Heat Builds On 'idol' To Get Rid Of 'ringer'

[Brian Damage]

QUESTIONS about "American Idol" semi-finalist Carly Smithson and her past as a major-label recording artist won't go away.

As the top 24 "Idol" contestants get ready to duke it out tomorrow night in the first competition where viewers can vote, Smithson's background has become a major issue with fans.

As The Post reported a month ago, the Irish-born singer had a $2-million deal with MCA in 2001 for a CD that bombed in the record stores.

One angry "Idol" Web site - VoteForTheWorst.com - is reporting that Randy Jackson was a major executive at MCA when Carly was signed to the label in 1999.

"If it isn't against the rules, that's some shady, shady stuff going on," the Web site wrote over the weekend. "This plant definitely made it to the top 24 based on a prior connection with Randy, which should be completely unfair."

"This is a thing that comes up for some reason every year," "Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told reporters.

"From Year One, all we say is that you have got to be out of contract now, but every year there's been somebody that's got a professional contract or even had an album out.

"So, no it doesn't worry us in the slightest." Still, some fans have noted that, while the show has told viewers about Carly's past as an "Idol" try-out who made it to Hollywood four years ago but was disqualified because of visa hassles, the show has failed to mention her big-label background.

There has never been any question that the judges did not know about it.

"It's an online backlash," Lythgoe said. "She's not breaking any rules in the competition.

"I mean goodness me, if Elvis Presley came back and was out of contract and was able to participate through age, then he would be in the competition," he said.

"Nobody said this is an amateur competition.

"It doesn't matter if you've had a professional contract. Kelly Clarkson had a professional contract. Bo Bice had a deal."

Lythgoe denied that "Idol" was covering up anything.

"We're not ignoring anything. We never do." Lythgoe said

"There's nothing wrong with saying she's had a deal, and she didn't get anywhere in that deal, and now, here she is."

The CD, incidentally, was called "Ultimate High" but sold less than 400 copies.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02182008...arly_98188.htm

[Brian Damage]

February 19, 2008 -- CARLY Smithson, the "American Idol" semi- finalist who is at the center of a controversy over her amateur status, defended herself for the first time yesterday.

Smithson - who is compet ing on "Idol" under her mar ried name but was Carly Hennessey in 2001 when MCA tried to make her into a Britney Spears- like per former - said her experi ence with big- time music was a disaster from the start.

"I kind of had a bad experience," she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday.

She denied that MCA ever spent anything like $2.2 million to jump start her career, as reported in a Wall Street Journal article several years ago.

The problem she says was that she was only 15 years old at the time the CD was recorded but the songs were too sexy for the young audience the label was aiming for.

"Gregg [Alexander, her producer] pushed the envelope with the lyrics," she explained and the record company sat on the risqué single, "I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind," for two years.

Just as the record was coming out, the 9/11 attacks happened and "nobody was interested in shopping a new record," she said.

She tried for a while to break the record in Europe - but the label, she says, failed to come through with promised promotion.

"It looked like I put out a record and it went nowhere."

"Idol" fans have kicked up a fuss since last week when Carly was chosen among the top 24 competitors on the hit show.

Some have said that, even if she is no longer under contract to a major label and doesn't violate the show's rules, her selection seemed to be against the amateur spirit of the show.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02192008...ment_98251.htm