Katharine McPhee has joined fellow "American Idol" contestants Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard as former members of the Sony BMG family. The artist has parted ways with RCA after a solitary album, a 2007 self-titled affair that debuted at No. 2 on The Billboard 200.

A label source confirmed McPhee's departure, which was first reported by Entertainment Weekly.

McPhee struggled to connect with a wide audience with her debut, which was led by the single "Over It." That track topped out at No. 22 on Billboard's Top 40 Mainstream chart and No. 29 on the Hot 100. The album has sold just 366,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

As McPhee told Billboard last year, she quickly realized the art of the compromise when it came to record the album, fresh off the road from the "American Idols Live" tour.

McPhee fell particularly in love with two tracks from producer Ryan Leslie, but then they wound up not making the cut. "I'm learning that's the way it goes in this business," she said. "You give and you take."


In contrast to "Idol" stars like Bo Bice and Hicks, who had already spent years pursuing a music career, McPhee's prior experience was limited to musical theater. Once in album-making mode, she also struggled with putting her own stamp on material that had been submitted by veteran songwriters.

"The demos, it's so hard once you hear whoever is singing to get that out of your head, especially for me, being new to recording," she said. Being able to craft songs with outside collaborators like Danja, Babyface and Kara DioGuardi generated "the memory of where we were when we were writing the song. There's a kind of history behind it."

Damn..... ... It's been a bad couple of weeks for the AI people

Daaaaayum! Any bids on who's next?

at the end of the day, AI artists are just game show winners. was there ever a point where we were supposed to assume that as a general rule, they were anything but disposable?

What about that pre-fat chick who was a cocktail waitress that pissed Clive Davis and released an album without his aproval that has song named after a whiskey?

the next idol to be dropped from the record label will be fantasia..her current album did not do well at all ,plus she is more involved with theatre.."color purple" so if she is dropped from j records it will come as no shock to anyone...also jamie foxx might be next in line....

mwilli said:

most AI winners are more suited to musical theatre anyway, let's face it.

mwilli said:

wtf do jaime foxx have to do with AI? and his last album was huge he hasn't released another one since then so that's stupid to say he'll be dropped. He might leave on his own but if they do part ways it wouldn't be because of poor sales like the case in this situation.

Kelly Clarkson
Carrie Underwood
Chris Daughtry


are the only true "stars" the show has really produced.


even Kelly may be on thin ice after her last effort.


yes, Fantasia is probably next.


Is Clay Aiken still recording?


The jury is still out on Elliott Yamin and Jordan Sparks

Elliott had a big hit with "Wait for You" but radio failed to warm up to the follow up "One Word", which is actually a better song. He may be one and done.

Sparks so far as had mediocre sales of her debut album. But the song "Tattoo" is a Top 10 airplay hit which may keep the album around awhile



.
[Edited 1/10/08 8:17am]

That's their fault. Tamyra's not hungry. AI isn't simply a show. It's a connect like a lot of those types of shows. Some people for whatever reason don't know to treat it like that.

it seems carrie's the only one that's going to be around for a while.

Wow this is crazy. And this is all happening around the same time and right before the start of the new season of AI. Very interesting.

The only hope for a lot of these guys is Broadway. Fantasia just ended her run on The Color Purple and now LaKisha is about to do a run on the show. I saw on TV the other day that Clay Aiken is about to star in the musical "Spamalot". Plus you have Frenchie who's been in "Rent" for a while and Treynce who's doing the "Chitlin Circuit" and Tyler Perry type plays. I think the theater is what's going to keep them out there.

mwilli said:

Yes it did. It went gold and "When I See You" spent 8 weeks on #1 Billboard rnb chart. With the way sales are these days that's a smash.

purplecam said:

Its not really a big deal, she was only signed for 1 album anyway as most are. Plus she has 2 movies coming out in the summer from major studios and some endorsement deals (clothing and hair). The problem really was that they tried to spin her into a clone of whats out there, and her voice alone is better than just about everyone out there, so its like she was singing alot of material beneath her vocal talent. Her ballad "Ordinary World" alone showed she could sing and honestly that song was what MARIAH needs to be doing, but the label couldnt even get behind that.

With Carrie Underwood and Daughtry they fit a perfect mold, she is the new Faith Hill/Shania Twain and Daughtry fits that BORING Rock mold that america loves, he's like a Bald Nickelback.
[Edited 1/10/08 9:46am]

I really don't see the big deal. I mean who would want to own anything put out by AI? All it is is singers singing bland and crappy covers and maybe an original or two. But I am pretty certian most of the music is watered down Kareoke music.

superspaceboy said:

of course. the point of AI is anything but artistic potential. it's competition. it's performance as an athletic event. the content of what they're doing on stage is irrelevant. it's all about how loud they can sing and how many vocal runs they can do. if people buy an AI artist album, my guess is that it's akin to buying an olympics souvenir. it's more about reliving the competition than the art of the product.

well then jordan sparks or whatever her name is... the last winner of AI is going to be dropped because they said her sales are the lowest among all the winners of AI.. and I really didn't want her to win...

1. She really can't sing
2. Her daddy is a semi-celeb and she had connections and did NOT need AI to get a music contract...
3. she is boring... the other AI contestants were better then her

Yes, as commented earlier, these people were never artists, they're game show winners with nice voices.

Seems the record industry is coming to terms with that as well. Hype will sell albums, but only for a while. William Hung had an album, but not exactly a career.

AI is a good TV show, I've watched every season, but I've never even thought about buying one of the albums.

Actually, I don't even want to watch the show at the moment.

Why the surprise? I have never seen any AI product in anyone's personal collection. Nobody I know bought any of this stuff.

VoicesCarry said:

Oh, how the entertainment industry is a cruel and cut throat business...

Can't say i'm suprised by this. Katharine McPhee's album and career weren't really going anywhere so it was only a matter of time before she was dropped.

Cinnamon234 said:

really? considering there wasnt a hit single selling 366,000 in this market is something people would kill for at this point, considering they didnt put money into her, they really made out big time. Plus shes got two movies coming out and she has two endorsement deals, i dont think thats really a career problem. Especially considering the endorsement deals net 7 figures.

mwilli said:

It would kind of shock me. Fantasia has sold pretty good (compared to other idols). Her current cd is gold thanx to 2 singles.

newpower99 said:

Elliott was a little smarter than the other idols. He went the independent route. His album did extremely well for an independent artist. He was number one for weeks. His music didn't really take off until he did a radio promo tour while Idol was still on.

daPrettyman said:

Yeah which is where Taylor is going and that other girl Haley Scarnato, she is doing an indie cd, its really the best move. Because you already get fan support, people see you, its all free promo. If you build a fan base "charts" and "labels" are really useless at the end of the day when the check comes in.

Looks like Jennifer Hudson got the last laugh

bboy87 said:

Did she? It's been a few years and she hasn't even released an album although she probably started working on one before "Dreamgirls". We'll have to wait and see what happens to her. Something tells me if she was working as an actress under the old studio system, she probably would be dropped herself after a few years.

VinnyM27 said:

Well...she's a gay diva. If she flopped, all the gays would pimp those albums and listen to some sweet dancefloor mixes

VinnyM27 said:

yeah, she may have had the largest and most impressive success post-AI, but she's showing the same pattern as everyone else from the show: make a big splash, then cool off and lose momentum. i hope she breaks through because i think she's about the only truly charismatic performer i've seen come out of that show.