Season ONE
On June 9, 2003 Canada first saw its own version of famous Fox show American Idol, which in turn was based on British reality talent show Pop Idol.
Auditions for the show began in spring and four show judges went to eight Canadian cities to select Top 11 from thousands of young talents across the country. Final rounds were held in Toronto at the John Bassett Theatre. Judges decided to take 11 contestants to the final round that year because the votes for Ryan Malcolm in wildcard round were very close and they let him pass to the finals. Ironically, Malcolm eventually won the competition and became Canadian Idol of 2003. Eight contestants including him released their solo albums after the show which became so popular it aired for six consecutive years.
Richie Wilcox from Halifax was 23 when he auditioned for the Canadian Idol. It wasn’t his first appearance on TV. At the age of nine he was starring on a Rita MacNeal Christmas special. Richie had studied drama at University College of Cape Breton and Dalhousie University and co-founded independent theatre company. After reaching the final round of the first season of Canadian Idol Richie went back to performing and directing plays. From 2003 to 2005 he wrote a column about reality shows. Wilcox is pursuing a Ph.D. in theatre at York University in Toronto. To please his fans he sometimes throws in a song or two during his public appearances.
Candida Clauseri chose the song ‘Power of Love’ originally performed by Celine Dion for her performance at Canadian Idol Top 11. Judges admitted her beautiful voice and confidence on stage. But Candida’s lack of technique and the way she was forcing her voice through the song drew their criticism and Candida was voted off after the first stage of the competition. After the show she worked with hip-hop label Platinum Hill but her album was never finished.
Karen-Lee Batten was born in British Columbia and became famous country music singer after her appearance on the first season of Canadian Idol. Though she only managed to make it to the Top 9 in 2003 she since got two “Female Vocalist of the Year” awards from the British Columbia Country Music Association: in 2004 and 2005. Karen-Lee elimination was a bit controversial because that year judges decided to add eleventh contestant Ryan Malcolm to the Top 10, hence three finalists should have been eliminated at the first round. As a full-fledged country singer Karen-Lee released her first album in 2005. It was called “Every Moment”.
Public attention wasn’t something new for Mikey Bustos when he auditioned for Canadian Idol: since early childhood he appeared on TV commercials and public service announcements. He was singing at school and while attending University of Guelph. He placed eighth at the Canadian Idol 2003 and began performing throughout Canada and US. In 2004 he went to New York to collaborate with famous producer Glenn Swan. On December 23, 2008 his first solo album “Memoirs of a Superhero” was released. Also Mikey is interested in insects. He is the co-founder, creator, and co-owner of The AntsCanada Ants Store.
Tyler Hamilton was born in Edmonton. He first sang in church at the age of five. Since then he joined boys choir and performed at the variety of community events such as fairs and talent festivals. Public performance wasn’t a problem for him and he put his abilities to good use becoming Top 7 in 2003 Canadian Idol contest.
Tyler is a born carpenter; he enjoys working with his hands and has a lot of good references from his clients. After the show Tyler has performed on stage. He likes to write and record music whenever he can.
Toya Alexis already had a decent history of participating in song contests before she auditioned to the Canadian Idol. She won a “Rising Star” contest, became widely known after the first season of Popstars and sang at the Apollo theatre. Though she hasn’t won the Popstarts contest, she featured on the winners’ debut album. Toya reached sixth place at the Canadian Idol in 2003 despite the fact she was considered the best of the six by her fans. Show judge Farley Flex became her manager and a godfather of her little son. In 2005 Toya released an album dubbed “S. O. B Story” which became platinum in Canada.
Jenny Gear was 21 when she auditioned for the Canadian Idol in St. Johns. She was born in the small town of Carbonear in Newfoundland. At the audition she impressed judges and brought them to tears with her outstanding rendition of “God Bless the Child”. On the final round her performances were warmly welcomed by judges and viewers but the same impression as in audition Jenny made with her rendition of “Summertime”.
After placing Top 5 of the first Canadian Idol contest Jenny released her album which was actually recorded before her appearance on Idol in her grandma’s kitchen. Jenny Gear has appeared on a number of TV shows; she is performing on stage and working on her second CD.
Audrey De Montigny was born in a small community of Sainte-Julienne in Quebec. Since early childhood Audrey wanted to become a singer. Her performances on the Canadian Idol showed Audrey’s vocal talent. Though she is Quebecoise and her English wasn’t very good, Audrey kept viewers’ and judges’ attention with her emotional renditions of English songs.
Audrey became fourth and the best of female finalists. Since then she released three albums. Her first self-titled album was nominated for a Juno Award as Francophone album of the year 2004.
Thanks to her photogenic look Audrey also appeared in fashion magazines and on television.
Before the show Billy Klippert had quite interesting life: in 2001 he moved to Australia where he worked on fruit and cotton farms and played on the sidewalks. Billy says he learned to play guitar to impress girls. He liked Metallica despite his father was a world-class accordion player. Billy also plays piano and bass and taught guitar at the family store. When he returned to Calgary he played with his brother in a hard rock band called Kovered In Lies.
Thanks to his sister who persuaded him to audition to the Canadian Idol Billy got to the show. By the end of the day he was buying tickets to Toronto to perform in finals where he became third.
Since then Billy Klippert released two albums in his favorite style but paying credits to his broad fan base. He wrote a lot of songs for his albums himself.
Before the Canadian Idol Gary Beals sang gospel in a church with his brother Shawn. Their group was called Light of Day.
Gary successfully performed on the show and became second Canadian Idol of the first season.
His impressive musical skills won Gary show judge and producer Farley Flex attention and in August 2004 he released his first self-titled album. The album became Top 10 in Canada and brought Gary Juno nomination for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year in 2005. His second album was released in 2009 and was called “The Rebirth Of…” The single from the album called “I Know You’re Out There” is still in rotation on radio stations across the country.
Ryan Malcolm was born in a small town near Kingston. When he came to an audition for the Canadion Idol he was 23 years old. Before the show he worked as a waiter and that fact got him his nickname “waiter boy” alluding to Avril Lavigne’s song “Sk8er Boi”.
Auditions didn’t go so well for Ryan — he couldn’t make it to the Top 10. But since the vote was very close he was awarded a spot in a wildcard show and became the 11th contestant of the final. Despite the poor start great song choices and consistent performances helped Malcolm win the Canadian Idol crown.
Malcolm’s debut single “Something More” went platinum four times on the day of its release. His first album “Home” was released on December 9, 2003 and became platinum selling 170,000 copies.
After three years of silence Malcolm released the album called “Urgency” with his new band Low Level Flight. Though it was an unexpected turn to the alternative rock Malcolm says he prefers to be himself and come out with good music.