Simon cowell biography american idol final season 2

The second season of American Idol premiered on January 21, , and continued until May 21, The second season was won by Ruben Studdard , who defeated Clay Aiken by , votes out of the 24 million votes recorded. Studdard released his coronation song " Flying Without Wings " after the show, which reached number two on the U. Billboard Hot Aiken also released a single with " This Is the Night.

It was also the biggest U. Auditions were held in the fall of in the following cities: [ 4 ]. The number of auditions increased significantly after the success of the first season, [ 14 ] [ 15 ] and arenas and stadiums began to be used to hold the first auditions from this season onward. Radio DJ Angie Martinez was originally signed up as a fourth judge, [ 17 ] but quit after a few days, stating that "it became too uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream.

Amber Riley was rejected by producers and did not get to audition for the judges, [ 19 ] but later went on to co-star on the television series Glee as Mercedes Jones. The contestants performed in a series of rounds and the number of contestants trimmed was in each round.

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In the first round, the contestants performed a song, after which were eliminated. In the second round, the remaining contestants were asked to compose a melody for one of five sets of lyrics, and 40 more were cut. In the third round, the contestants were separated by gender and performed in small groups. In the last round, each of the remaining 48 contestants performed solo.

After their performances, the contestants were then divided into three groups of sixteen and placed in separate rooms. One group was eliminated, and 32 contestants proceeded on to the semifinal rounds.