What do the American Idol judges know about singing?

Question

Not to offend them in any way but how did they become judges? Did they sing before? Do they have a degree in any music related course? Have you at least heard any of them sing?

Of course this does not include guest judge Ms. Olivia Newton-John

Answer 1

Simon is a successful producer, he knows talent when he hears it.

Randy is a successful producer and musician (played bass with Journey).

Paula is a successful singer and choreographer. She had quite a few hits in the mid to late 80s.

Answer 2

Paula Abdul was a pretty big pop star in the 80's (I LOVED her when I was younger). She's by no means a stellar singer, but she has tons of experience as a performer.

Simon and Randy are involved with the "behind the scenes" part of music. They're more like producers, executives, etc. They aren't singers, and they don't claim to be. Maybe it will help to think of them like scouts for a sports team. Most scouts DO NOT have the ability to play whatever sport they're watching, but they do have the ability to judge prospective players and consider whether the player will fit in with an existing team, etc. Simon and Randy don't just judge whether someone can sing or not... they are there to consider contestants' abilities to have a career in the music industry. They've worked in the industry long enough to judge who they believe can be a star.

Answer 3

Well Paula WAS a successful singer/dancer. Randy is a producer, and he used to play in a band. Simon started American Idol in England and it became very successful so he came to America to pitch the show. Simon is also a producer.

They all know what the record companies are looking for.

Answer 4

Paula Abdul---she sang!SImon was a record producer..Randy was a musician as well.....but that still doesn't mean they should judge!! I heard something about courtney love---how on earth would anyone choose her to judge?!

They have done a pretty good job though!

Answer 5

I think Simon knows how to spot talent. Randy Is more a producer, he knows how to put albums together and whats a good song, not as talented as simon when it comes to spotting talent. Paula is a mess and not sure how she got the job, i guess hse is more balance to Simons cold heart. But that said Simon is not a singer is basically a talent scout.

Answer 6

I agree more for Paul b/c she cant sing a lick. Simon and Randy they can have the ear for a singer that I can understand, but Paul never has her own opinion and just says the same thing Simon and Randy say for the most part.

Answer 7

Randy Jackson is a music producer
Paula Abdul is a mega music superstar
Simon is a jerk and there are mostly jerks in the music business

Answer 8

Paula was a very famous artist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Abdul

Simon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_cowell

I don't know a thing about randy. sry

Answer 9

really no idea. Look at paula, i can only remember the song "rush rush".

Answer 10

I don't know why Paula Abdul is there, but I know Randy and Simon are music producers. People think they are just "behind" the music, but producers are the music. They have to be more knowledgeable and skilled that the vocalists they work with.

RANDY JACKSON -
Jackson began his music career playing the electric bass. He played bass in violin virtuoso Jean-Luc Ponty's backing band and toured with rock band Journey in 1983 and 1985. He was a highly regarded session musician in Los Angeles during the 1980s. His numerous credits range from playing with Aretha Franklin, George Michael , Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Billy Cobham, Blue Öyster Cult, Herbie Hancock, Richard Marx, Billy Joel, Journey, Stryper and Bob Dylan to playing at the Grand Ole Opry with The Charlie Daniels Band. His production/songwriting work in the San Francisco Bay area with Narada Michael Walden and Walter Afanasieff led Randy to be quite in demand as a producer himself.

While in the Bay Area, Randy played in bands with Carlos Santana and Jerry Garcia. He moved to Italy in the late 1980s and produced a record for Italian pop star Zucchero. The record Zucchero and the Randy Jackson Band produced one of Zucchero's biggest hits, "Donne". Jackson was bass guitarist for Tracy Chapman featuring on several Tracks on her 1992 release Matters of the Heart, he performed on the hit single "Bang Bang Bang", "Open Arms", and "Dreaming on a World". Jackson has also recorded, produced, or toured with many well-known artists and bands, ranging from Mariah Carey (whom he knew when she was still a teenager; he was in her band at Live 8 in London in 2005) to *NSYNC, Céline Dion, Wild Orchid, Bruce Springsteen, and Madonna (he played bass on her # 1 hit "Like a Prayer"). He has also worked as an executive, spending eight years as vice president of artists and repertoire (A&R) at Columbia Records and four years heading A&R at MCA Records.[1]

Jackson also hosts a radio top 40 countdown known as "Randy Jackson's Hit List" syndicated on hundreds of stations nationwide by Westwood One. Every week Randy counts down his top 30 Urban AC and Mainstream AC hits, gives us a peek into AI with American Idol Underground, and shares what's currently in his iPod.

SIMON COWELL -
After Cowell became discouraged and resigned to working outside of the entertainment industry, his father's connections got him rehired as the assistant an A&R man, from there, he worked his way up to record producer, but left during the early 1980s to form E&S Music, an independent music company. The label folded within a year of its launch, forcing him to return to EMI. In 1984, he met Pete Waterman, a former gay scene DJ-turned-producer and founder of the then-aspiring Stock Aitken Waterman trio. In 1985, Cowell, along with fellow EMI clerk Iain Burton, again left EMI and formed an independent record label called Fanfare Records. It was Waterman who helped him regain success during the second half of the 1980s. Cowell would later describe in interviews (and in his autobiography I Don't Mean to be Rude, but...) that he learned more from Waterman in a short time than he could have in an entire career with any major label. Fanfare enjoyed success with its artist, (and Cowell's girlfriend at the time) Sinitta Malone.

Bad fortune struck yet again, and when its mother company folded, Fanfare went bankrupt in 1989, leaving Cowell deeply in debt and forcing him, at 30, to move back home with his parents. Later that year, he became an A&R consultant for BMG. Subsequently, Cowell signed a number of acts to S Records that made a mark in the pop music world, including Curiosity Killed the Cat, Sonia, 5ive, record-setting UK chart-toppers Westlife, and surprise actors-turned-singers Robson & Jerome. He also released several novelty recordings featuring the likes of wrestlers of the World Wrestling Federation, Zig and Zag and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, that were huge successes.[2] Cowell set up another label, Syco Records, in 2002 which later became part of Columbia Records and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Artists such as Il Divo and contestants from The X Factor and America's Got Talent are released on Syco.

Three notable oversights of Cowell's are that he auditioned the Spice Girls but was not interested, turning down Take That, deciding that songwriter and front man Gary Barlow was too fat to be a star, and just this past season of American Idol, he passed on Taylor Hicks who went on to become season five's American Idol winner.