American Idol (season 1)

Auditions were held in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, and Seattle in the spring of 2002,[1] and around 10,000 attended the auditions.

One of the more prominent auditioners was Tamika Bush who objected to the judges' critiques and their pronunciation of her name. She was later invited back to critique the contestants' semifinal performance. Kristin Holt, who auditioned in Dallas, was put through to the Hollywood rounds, but in her rush to embrace the judges, fell and slipped under the judges' table.

Kelly Clarkson was notable for being largely absent in the audition episode, and she remains the only winner whose audition was not aired in the original broadcast. The other top 10 finalists in Season 1 whose auditions were not shown were Nikki McKibbin and EJ Day.

The Hollywood week rounds were held in Pasadena Civic Center where 121 contestants competed for a place in the finals. The contestants first emerged on stage in groups of nine or ten but performed solo unaccompanied, and those who did not impress the judges were cut after the group finished their individual performances. 65 were selected to proceed on to the next round. The singers were expected to learn their songs that night and perform the next day in groups of three. The girls and boys were separated and given crash course to learn their song, which was Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer" for the girls and "For Once in My Life" for the boys. Many however frequently forgot the lyrics. Again those who failed to impress were cut immediately after their performance. 45 made it to the next round, and the 20 cut were given their last chance to voice their opinion to the judges before leaving.

In the final round, the remaining 45 were given new songs to learn and each performed solo and a cappella. 30 contestants were chosen after this round. The Top 15 were first announced, the judges then selected 15 more out of the remaining 30. The 30 were split into two groups and the judges then went to each group to announce the chosen group.

Delano Cagnolatti was initially amongst those announced as the Top 30, but he was later disqualified for falsifying his age,[7] and became the first person to be disqualified on American Idol. He was replaced by EJay Day.

The 30 contestants who reached this stage in this season were referred to in the show as the finalists.

Before their performance, the contestants took part in intensive music workshop where they were given vocal coaching by Debra Byrd and advice by stylists. The contestants were held in the Red Room before they each emerged to perform solo with piano accompaniment. There was no studio audience at this stage and the performance was pre-taped. The audience voted after each round of performance, and the results of the vote were announced the next day live. A total of 3.3 million votes were cast in the first week of voting.[8]

Below are the three semi-final groups with contestants listed in their performance order. In each group, three people advanced to the next round, based on votes by the viewers.

Color key:

Back – EJay Day, R. J. Helton, AJ Gil
Middle – Tamyra Gray, Kelly Clarkson, Ryan Starr
Front – Justin Guarini, Nikki McKibbin, Christina Christian, Jim Verraros

• Kelly Clarkson (born April 24, 1982 in Fort Worth, Texas, 20 years old at the time of the show) is from Burleson, Texas and auditioned in Dallas, Texas with Etta James' "At Last" and Madonna's "Express Yourself." She performed Aretha Franklin's version of "Respect" and Vanessa Williams' "Save The Best For Last" in the Hollywood rounds.

• Justin Guarini (born October 28, 1978 in Columbus, Georgia, 23 years old at the time of the show) is from Doylestown, Pennsylvania and auditioned in New York City with The Jackson 5's version of "Who's Lovin' You." He performed Oleta Adams' version of "Get Here" in the Hollywood rounds.
• Nikki McKibbin (September 28, 1978 - November 1, 2020) in Grand Prairie, Texas, 23 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Dallas with her married name Nikki Ozment. She had previously been on Popstars: USA and auditioned with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and Whitney Houston's "One Moment in Time." She performed The Righteous Brothers' version of "Unchained Melody" in the Hollywood rounds. McKibbin died on November 1, 2020, after suffering an aneurysm, making her the fourth American Idol finalist to die, following Leah LaBelle in 2018, Rickey Smith in 2016, and Michael Johns in 2014.[9][10]
• Tamyra Gray (born July 26, 1979 in Takoma Park, Maryland, 22 years old at the start of the season) is from Atlanta, Georgia and auditioned there with Mariah Carey's "Vision Of Love." She had appeared on TV commercials and worked with other artists before auditioning for Idol, and was crowned Miss Atlanta in 1998. She performed Oleta Adams' version of "Get Here" in Hollywood.
• R. J. Helton (born May 17, 1981 in Pasadena, Texas, 21 years old at the time of the show) is from Cumming, Georgia, and auditioned in Atlanta with The Jackson 5's "Never Can Say Goodbye." He had made demo CDs before appearing on American Idol.
• Christina Christian (born June 21, 1981 in Brooklyn, New York, 21 years old at the time of the show) and auditioned in Miami, Florida with Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely?" She performed Diana Ross' version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in Hollywood
• Ryan Starr (born November 21, 1982 in Sunland, California, 19 years old at the time of the show) auditioned in Los Angeles using her birth name Tiffany Montgomery. Her audition song was Bill Withers' "Lean On Me." She performed Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" in the Hollywood rounds.
• AJ Gil (born July 5, 1984 in San Diego, California, 17 years old at the time of the show) is from Tacoma, Washington and auditioned in Seattle, Washington with "The Star-Spangled Banner".
• Jim Verraros (born February 8, 1983 in Chicago, Illinois, 19 years old at the time of the show) is from Crystal Lake, Illinois, and auditioned in Chicago with Nat King Cole's version of "When I Fall In Love." He grew up with Deaf parents and is fluent in ASL (American Sign Language). He performed Diana Ross' "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" in Hollywood.
• EJay Day (born September 13, 1981 in Lawrenceville, Georgia, 20 years old at the time of the show) did not originally qualify for the semifinals, but was later chosen to replace disqualified contestant Delano Cagnolatti. He auditioned in Atlanta with Oleta Adams' "Get Here."

The finals were broadcast live, in front of a live studio audience. The finals lasted for eight weeks, each finalist performed a song or songs selected from a weekly theme. During the first few weeks, contestants sang one song each. By the top four week, the contestants sang two songs each, and in the finale the two finalists performed three songs apiece.

The results of public vote were revealed in the night following the performance night in the results show. The three or two contestants in the later rounds who received the lowest number of votes were typically called the Bottom Three or Two. From the bottom three, one contestant was sent to safety so that two contestants remained and finally the contestant who received the fewest votes was eliminated from the competition. A farewell video with montage of the eliminated contestant is shown.

This season largely set the pattern for later seasons, such as group performance by the contestants during the result shows, hometown visits for the top 3, and performing the songs for the top 2 that would be released immediately after the finale. In this season, there were no guest mentors apart from the Burt Bacharach week where the composer helped the contestants prepare their songs.

The finale was between Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, and Kelly Clarkson was declared the winner with 58% out of 15.5 million votes cast.[11] Over 110 million votes were cast over the entire season.[8]

A television special from Las Vegas starring the top thirty-two finalists aired later, a thirty date tour with the top ten followed, as did the box office bomb movie titled From Justin to Kelly.

Color key:

Color key:

It was revealed during the season that around 100 phone-phreak hackers with power-dialing hardware and software were able to place as many as 10,000 votes a night from a single phone line with the touch of a button.[12] However, FremantleMedia, which produces the show, contended that the hackers have had 'statistically insignificant' effect on the vote. Simon Cowell also insisted that Tamyra Gray's unexpected ouster from the show only strengthened the producers' contention that the voting was fair.[13] Nevertheless, concerns were raised about possible unfairness in the situation of a tight vote.[14] Ken Warwick later said in Season 5 that equipment was put in place afterwards to address this issue but it allegedly has never detected such a problem since.[15]

Idol contestants were reported to having to sign a 'phone book-thick' contract that gives producers 'sole discretion' to pick the winners and change the rules.[16]

Controversy erupted when the winner of Season 1, Kelly Clarkson, was invited to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in a deal arranged by her then management company, 19 Entertainment, at a special commemoration for the first anniversary of September 11 attacks at Washington's Lincoln Memorial. Some critics suggested that Clarkson's appearance would turn a somber occasion of national mourning into a "giant promotional opportunity".[17] Kelly Clarkson herself considered withdrawing from the commemoration, saying "I think it is a bad idea ... If anybody thinks I'm trying to market anything, well, that's awful." and added "I am not going to do it."[18] She was however unable to withdraw from the event.

Season one of American Idol was a surprise summer hit show of 2002 and had an average viewership of 12.7 million per episode.[19] It was the summer's highest-rated show in the 18/49 demographic.[20]

Re-edited episodes of American Idol season 1 were being shown in syndication as American Idol Rewind. The new episodes featured commentary from some of the first season's top 30, including Justin Guarini, Jim Verraros, Christina Christian, Nikki McKibbin, Angela Peel, and Kelli Glover. Rewind also showcased footage that was not seen in the initial run of season 1, including Kelly Clarkson's full audition.[35]

• American Idol: Greatest Moments

• American Idols LIVE! Tour 2002

• Official American Idol Contestants Website
• American Idol (Season 1) at IMDb
• American Idol (Season 1) at TV.com