Taylor Hicks interview

In the four years since Taylor Hicks won American Idol, his career has taken unexpected turns ranging from starring in Grease to parting ways with his major label in favor of releasing The Distance on a label of his own. Now, as American Idol Rewind has begun re-airing his season on television, Taylor and I chatted about everything from where he is now in his own career to how he’s kept in touch with his seasonmates – and some Alabama football along the way…

I’ve got to tell you, I used to live next to the theater in Hollywood where Grease was playing, and every day I’d see a giant poster of your head, so it’s good to finally be talking to the real you.

I probably look more funny than that poster (laughs).

Once you and Arista decided to part ways, did you think about signing with another big label or did you immediately know you wanted to create your own?

I had some major label offers but the situation was that we knew that Grease, the Broadway show, while we were fielding offers to do some major label deals, the Grease role of Teen Angel came up and it was such a success that the national tour was going to start December 1st. And I knew that I had twelve months of very rigorous, basically a tour of seventy markets all over the country at eight shows a week, and if you do the math, the smartest thing for me to do, the smartest business choice that I could make for myself, was to start my own label and integrate the record within the Broadway show. And that’s what I’ve been able to do so far.

You’ve made albums both ways, you’ve made one for a major and you’ve made one with total control. Just how different is that?

If you make it your own record, obviously being an independent you make more money off of that record. That’s one of the things. And you get to call the shots creatively, so to speak. When you go up against a major label, there are a lot of different hands in the pie and you have to make sure that you have the right hands in the pie making it so you’ll make a good pie.

Elliott Yamin is on The Distance so obviously you’ve kept in touch with him. Have you been able to keep in touch with your seasonmates in general over the years?

You know I have, and it’s been so great to watch everybody have their own little success in each endeavor. That season, in my opinion, and I have to be a little bit biased, in my opinion was the best season of American Idol. Just from the theme weeks and how many stars were on the show, to how big the show was itself, and then for also that crop of contestants to really hop off and really do well, it is fun to see them and I do congratulate them in their endeavors when they come up.

A lot of struggling musicians see Idol on TV and wonder if they should try out. What would your advice be on that?

I think opportunity creates luck, and with a show like that and it being able to audition around the country, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t try out because you just never know when your break is going to happen. Take it from me, you never know if you’ll get a pretty big break off of that show.

I heard you were an Auburn guy but I saw you rooting for Alabama in the national championship. I was wondering if you think they’re going to repeat next year.

I think they have a very good shot. I’m very proud to be from Alabama and a big SEC football fan. I do think that they have that ability. I think the SEC is just really strong and who knows? If Mark Ingram’s in the backfield in any game, they have a shot to win.

Taylor Hicks’ sophomore album The Distance is in iTunes and record stores now. American Idol Rewind Season Five is currently airing on syndicated television and on the TV Guide Network and includes new interviews with Taylor and other season five contestants.

Learn more at TaylorHicks.com • iTunes • MySpace • Facebook • Idol Rewind