Yesterday, before the results show, I spoke with the ?American Idol? vocal coach Debra Byrd, who has been there since day one. She was on camera more in the early seasons but with guests like Barry Manilow (who she convinced to come on the show last year) and Diana Ross, her airtime has largely disappeared. Nonetheless, she works with many of the contestants every week behind the scenes, typically an hour each and she helps put together the cut-down arrangements that have to fit 1 minute 10 seconds to 2 minutes depending on how long the show is and how many contestants have to be squeezed in.
Nowadays, four people, in pairs of two, work with the finalists on arrangements. She, for instance, helped Blake work on his arrangement but said two others, MIchael Orland and Dorian Holley, worked on Chris Sligh?s ?Endless Love.? ?That was a bit of a misjudgment,? she noted.
Byrd (who goes by her last name even if you know her well) is promoting a new DVD called ?Vocal Help Now!? available at Target and Guitar Center as well as her Web site. It?s only $20 and began shipping March 10. We gabbed for over an hour, far longer than I was allotted. She was delightfully fun though she wouldn?t go into detail about the current singers? faults because she has to work with them every week. ?I?m kind of wired not to show favoritism,? she said. For instance, she said Sanjaya ?is growing into himself.? She did state the obvious: ?The ladies are outshining the guys.? She blames it partly on song choice.
She dangled an interesting potential bit of news: she said the ?Idol? contestants had less time than normal to rehearse the past week but wouldn?t say why. (That may be revealed later.) She thought that may be why three of the finalists forgot lyrics last night. ?We never had that happen en masse before,? she said. She also marvelled over the fact that Sanjaya?s hair changes every week, including last night?s Diana Ross imitation. She said the hairdresser didn?t recommend that, that it as all Sanjaya?s idea.
The Cleveland native also said there?s a lot more tension this year on the set with the contestants than in past years, perhaps because the stakes are higher now that Kelly, Carrie and Jennifer Hudson have hit such heights. (You could sense it last night.)
We talked about how cocooned the finalists are and the fact cameras don?t follow everywhere they go like ?America?s Next Top Model? or ?The Apprentice.? ?It?s a good thing,? Byrd said. ?It?s a healthy environment. If Antonella [Barba] had not been cocooned, she?d have an uzi in her hand.? And she advisees strongly that the contestants stay away from message boards on the Web. ?It really messes with your head,? she said.
While she likes many of the younger contestants, she enjoys the older ones now that the age limit is 28 instead of 24 the first three years. She said despite Sanjaya and Jordin Sparks, the median age seems older this year and she likes that. She loved working with the likes of Bo Bice (season four runner up) and LaToya London (season three, fourth place) because they were fully formed adults.
She remains buds with many of the past contestants including Kelly Clarkson, who appears on the DVD, Kimberly Caldwell (also on the DVD), George Huff, Kellie Pickler, Justin Guarini, Fantasia and Jennifer Hudson. (In fact, Byrd takes credit for recommending Jennifer to play Effie for the film version of ?Dreamgirls.? She said they called her first to ask about Frenchie Davis or Fantasia. ?The casting person had no idea who Jennifer was,? she recalled.?She was not on their radar.?)
Byrd also has deep affection for Carrie Underwood. When Carrie showed up last week to perform, afterwards, she made a bee-line straight to Byrd to hug her. ?I felt like I won the lottery because I made such an impact on these people,? she said.
She ?Idol? a major grind, ?a vocal marathon.? She sees all the physical ills the contestants suffer and often hide on camera. For instance, Haley Scarnato last night had a sprained ankle but you would have never known it. ?As soon as the camera was off, she sat down,? Byrd noted. ?She had her leg wrapped. She soldered on, didn?t complain.?
Byrd occasionally recommends songs to contestants but they usually pick their own. She said on ?70s dance week in 2004, Bo Bice was stumped what he could do. She suggested ?Vehicle,? which she said ?Idol? producer Nigel Lythgoe was skeptical about as a dance song. But she said black folks love that song as a dance tune and she convinced him it was okay. Ultimately, that was one of Bo?s better performances.