Win a Date with American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks

Here's your chance to go on a date with the most handsome, charming and talented man ever to come out of American Idol! Yes, girls, Regis & Kelly are hosting the "Dating With The Stars" contest in February and Taylor Hicks is THE grand prize! Gah! I can hardly contain myself! If I wasn't already married....... !

They write: "..Valentine's Day is right around the corner, but even if you don't have a special someone to celebrate with, it's not too late to find love. In fact, Regis and Kelly are going to play matchmaker! We have two adorable, charming and more importantly single men that we are giving our viewers a chance to go on a date with, which may include a trip to New York City to be on our show. Read on to find out about these bachelors and then let us know why you would make the perfect date. Please note: if selected you should be able to travel to New York the week of February 16th...."

"...Alabama's favorite son continues to be in "The Right Place" since becoming the fifth-season winner of American Idol. During the last three years, Taylor Hicks has seen his Arista debut album certified platinum, performed with the likes of Earth, Wind & Fire, The Allman Brothers and Willie Nelson, toured through Asia, penned a brisk-selling Random House memoir, and made his Broadway debut in Grease.

Currently promoting his new album, in stores March 10, 2009, the platinum-selling singer-songwriter will release The Distance with complete control of direction and ownership of his masters on his solely owned and operated, Modern Whomp Records label via Artist To Market (A2M).

Produced by Simon Climie (Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Faith Hill), and tapping the talents of guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, bassist Nathan East and drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., The Distance features eleven tracks, some co-written by Hicks: "Wedding Day Blues," "Seven Mile Breakdown," "What's Right is Right," "Woman's Gotta Have It," "New Found Freedom," "The Distance," "Nineteen," "I Live on a Battlefield," "Maybe You Should," "Once Upon a Lover of Mine," and "Keepin' It Real."

"'What's Right Is Right' is the soulful love song of the album," says Hicks. "I think it's wonderful message about love that people can relate to. The saxophone subtones as they are called, is where you can actually hear the breath from the instrumentalist before he actually plays the next note. Capturing the sound is almost like a music lesson within a Soulful love song. Subtones are a lost art in music today. These musical nuances do not limit themselves only to 'What's Right Is Right,' but are heard throughout the whole album."

"'The Distance' is my tribute to the world as whole. 'The Distance' is a rock song with a great message for all of us as a people. I wanted to try my hand at writing a harder edged song with a universal message, but not leaving my personal influences behind. The message is really important to me. If we all glanced at the world as a whole 'The Distance' between us will fade."

"'Nineteen' made me cry the first time I heard it. I wanted to arrange the song to where it fit my style. Such powerful imagery. It is American, Patriotic and Honest."

"'Wedding Day Blues' is a great story tune, in the vein of past singer-songwriters. A man attends an ex-lovers wedding and ends up in his own honeymoon."

In August 2009 Taylor released a reflective of his pre-Idol years, Early Works (Vanguard Records), which merged his indie albums In Your Time and Under the Radar into one collection. Along with his contribution to the forthcoming Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, recorded live in Ashville, North Carolina, his own DVD, Whomp at the Warfield (release date to be confirmed), offers fans exhilarating live performances by Taylor and his band at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco.

For now, he is excited to spend the next few months on the road promoting his new album and continuing his run as Teen Angel for the national tour of Grease. Beginning summer of 2008 in New York City, Taylor assumed the role of Teen Angel singing "Beauty School Dropout" performing eight shows a week at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. While also showcasing his harmonica skills, Taylor appreciates the opportunity as "a perfect fit for me to experience Broadway theater," in a musical much-loved for its memorable songs. The three-month role, which began in June, continues to sell-out shows and is currently on a national tour.

Taylor was eight when his family moved from his native Birmingham to nearby Hoover and his parents divorced. Early hardship quickly led him to the warm and tender mercies of soul music. As a youth he realized he had perfect pitch, and taught himself to play guitar and a blues-wailin' harmonica. After graduating high school in 1995, he studied business and journalism at Auburn University and shepherded the release of his first independent album, In Your Time.

Focusing on music full-time, Taylor became a fixture around Birmingham, opening concerts and club dates for visiting stars like James Brown, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Robert Randolph, Keb' Mo' and others. He honed his skills and learned to please diverse audiences. "At some of the beach bars I played over the years, I had to entertain 15-year-olds sitting with their 75-year-old grandparents," Taylor recalls. In early 2005, Taylor released his second indie CD, entitled Under the Radar.

His personal twist of fate came in New Orleans, at the wedding of an Auburn friend, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005. With his flight cancelled, he was given a free airplane voucher. Earlier that summer, he had considered auditioning for AI in Memphis, but the auditions were cancelled as the city became one of hubs of the Katrina relief effort. Through the summer and fall, however, auditions proceeded in eight cities across the country Taylor eventually used his voucher to travel for a Las Vegas holiday, coincidentally American Idol were auditioning in Vegas during his vacation.

By February, as the fifth season got well underway, two dozen semi-finalists had been chosen. From the start, Taylor's material set him apart, with such blues and funk-based rockers as the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets," Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," Sam Cooke's "You Send Me," Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" and "In the Ghetto," and Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness." By May 12, "Soul Patrol!" fever was everywhere as Taylor was brought to Birmingham for a weekend celebration, a concert in his honor and a personal meeting with Governor Bob Riley, who officially proclaimed Monday, May 16 as "Taylor Hicks Day."

A lifetime steeped in the blues, soul and R&B of his native Southern heroes – Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown and Sam Cooke, to name a few – culminated in no uncertain terms as Taylor Hicks won the fifth season of American Idol. It was an emotionally uplifting night – May 24, 2006 – when 36.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the season finale, the year's third-largest audience for a televised event after the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards. More than 63 million votes were cast in crowning a gritty, down-home, white R&B singer the new winner.

Less than three weeks later came the debut of Taylor's first single, "Do I Make You Proud," coupled with "Takin' It to the Streets," culled from the AI Season 5 Encores CD. The single entered at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100, Pop 100 and Single Sales charts, with first-week sales over 190,000 units. As with previous AI winners' singles, a portion of the proceeds from every CD single, download, ringtone and ringback benefited the American Red Cross. Coinciding with the single release, a cover story named Taylor as People magazine's Hottest Bachelor of the Year.

His self-titled album, Taylor Hicks (Arista), was released on December 12, 2006. It debuted in the #2 spot on the Billboard 200 and was quickly certified platinum. Produced by Grammy winner Matt Serletic (Matchbox Twenty, Santana, Willie Nelson, Courtney Love), the album showcased Taylor's talents and roots: from the feel-good groove of "The Runaround" to the ballad "Just to Feel That Way" to the bluesy "Heaven Knows" to the earnest "The Right Place," originally written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance for Ray Charles to record before his death. During the fifth season of AI, in the summer of 2006, Taylor had already recorded his third indie album, Live at the Workplay Theatre, with the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra.

Audiences cheered Taylor during the summer American Idols Live! tour, and he went on to thrill audiences across Asia. Back in the U.S., Taylor went on the road performing with Willie Nelson, Widespread Panic, The Allman Brothers and Jackson Browne. Adding publishing to his list of growing accomplishments, Taylor's memoir, Heart Full of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice and Finding Your Way (Random House), was released in July 2007. It's clear that Taylor Hicks continues to find his way to success, at a level that a young boy from Birmingham may not have imagined..."

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