Where is sanjaya from american idol now

It is after this, that Billboard believes he decided to step out of the spotlight for a few years, bartending in New York before moving back to his hometown, Seattle, to focus on music. Making sure it comes out right," he told The Morton Report in Today, Sanjaya lives a relatively normal life, uploading new music on his Bandcamp website , which you can listen to and buy.

He seems to have a particular interest in covers, most recently singing Billie Eilish's "Ocean Eyes". During the heyday of "American Idol" in the mids, Sanjaya Malakar became a household name The thenyear-old gained notoriety for delivering a string of lackluster performances, but ultimately survived week after week in the competition, much to the chagrin of Simon Cowell. Sanjaya's run on the show was boosted by a website called Vote for the Worst, which encouraged viewers to vote for the worst contestant every week.

After Howard Stern mentioned the site on his show and encouraged people to vote for Sanjaya, the site and its mission became widespread knowledge, according to The New York Times. In fact, it became so well known that "Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe addressed it on a conference call, saying he didn't believe the site's campaign had any meaningful impact on the results. Haley Reinhart -- With so many Idol contestants ending up on Broadway, it just made sense that raspy-voiced Illinois native Reinhart managed to bring a bit of musical theater jazz to her third-place finish in season 10 during her notable run.

She's since become a regular collaborator with retro-covers band Postmodern Jukebox, released a second album, 's Better, and last fall's mostly covers album, What's That Sound? Never give up speaking your truth, even when they try to twist it. A post shared by?? Haley Reinhart??

One of the hallmarks of Idol was that in addition to bubbling up some of the nation's best talent, it also indulged some truly delusional, awful "singers" during early rounds, and in a few cases, way deeper into the knockouts than you might imagine, plus some decent singers who just never seemed to fit in. Here are some of the best of the rest. Sanjaya Malakar -- The OG terrible Idol singer managed to make it to a seventh-place finish in season 6 based on what was clearly a troll vote thanks to the Vote for the Worst site.

Blissfully unaware of his own awfulness, the Seattle teen with the goofy ponyhawk and wobbly vocals stayed in the mix to judge Simon Cowell's eternal consternation.

Yes, he was awful, the internet loved him, and for a minute even SNL couldn't resist parodying him. Get Me Out of Here! Anoop Desai -- A decent-ish soul singer, "Anoop Dogg," as Randy Jackson dubbed him, rose to an unlikely sixth-place finish during season 8, though he was ultimately undone by his uneven performances and goofy stage demeanor.

He's released a series of singles to little or no attention and an EP, Zero. Jason Castro -- The dreadlocked guitar strummer was charming enough to score a fourth-place finish during season 7 and land an Atlantic Records album release, but rarely has there been an Idol contestant who seemed less interested in the machinery of fame.

Castro melted hearts with his Jeff Buckley-favoring cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," and after a string of singles and EPs, he appears to have settled into a life of happy domesticity , touring and recording with his siblings in Castro the Band. Blake Lewis -- The season 6 runner-up inexplicably almost took the crown despite thinking it was a good idea to mix beatboxing and scatting into his covers of Jamiroquai, , The Cure and Maroon 5.

His debut, A. He doesn't have any current dates, but when he next hits the road, you might be able to hear him beatbox over a sampler and live saxophone over " Seven Nation Army. William Hung -- The ultimate Idol fail-cess story, Hung was viral before viral existed in thanks to his truly terrible cover of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" during season 3's audition rounds.

The then-civil engineering student got flamed by Cowell, who mercilessly mocked his lack of any musical or theatrical skills. He became an overnight sensation, appearing on dozens of talks shows and earning a mid-season Idol return for Uncut, Uncensored and Untalented. He inexplicably got a label deal with Koch Entertainment in and released Inspiration , a glorified karaoke album and a Christmas album Hung for the Holidays , followed by self-mocking appearances in commercials and no-budget comedy films, before he gave up music for good in to become a crime analyst for the L.

Country Sheriff's Dept and a motivational speaker. Platt returned to Idol for the show's series finale in Search term. Billboard Pro Subscribe Sign In.

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