Notes on Chris Sligh, Carrie Underwood, Elliott Yamin, Paris Bennett, and Jennifer Hudson

A few random Idol-related notes:

Chris Sligh
Chris' band, Half Past Forever, has released their debut CD (made before Sligh was on Idol), called "Take a Chance on Something Beautiful." The CD is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. As far as I know, this is the first time an Idol album has been available for sale while the contestant is still in the competition.

Carrie Underwood
Carrie will be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live (following in the footsteps of former guests and Idol alumni Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken) on March 24. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning will host the show.

Elliott Yamin
As we get closer to the release of Elliott's debut album (just six days away!), Elliott's publicity machine is really starting to heat up. His first single "Wait For You" impacted radio as of yesterday, and is now available for purchase on itunes. In addition, according to Elliott's myspace blog he will be appearing on "Live with Regis and Kelly," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and MTV's "TRL" in the coming weeks.



Paris Bennett
While Paris' CD is still not available for pre-sale on Amazon yet, her first single is very slowly starting to gain some radio play, as two Urban Mainstream stations have started spinning her debut single, "Ordinary Love." Stay tuned for details on her album release.

Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson took to her myspace blog to try to clear up a few rumors that have been floating around about her in the last couple of weeks. She says she has not committed to any movie projects at the moment (despite the hubbub about her having signed on to play Aretha Franklin in a bigscreen version of Franklin's life), and is focused, for the moment, on her music. In addition, she says that because she is new to this kind of industry exposure, it caught her off guard that people are gossiping about her and that they think she is a diva. While she admits to calling American Idol a "stepping stone," she explains, "as I said in my previous interviews American Idol is a stepping stone because had it not been for them no one would of knew (sic) of a Jennifer Hudson to call to audition for Dreamgirls!