Melissa O'Neil

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Melissa O'Neil
Melissa O'Neil at the 2006 Juno Awards
Background information
Birth name	Melissa Crystal O'Neil
Born	July 12, 1988
Origin	Calgary, Alberta
Genre(s)	Pop
Years active	2005–present
Label(s)	Sony BMG

Melissa Crystal O'Neil (born July 12, 1988 in Calgary, Alberta) was the winner of the third season of Canadian Idol. She attended Lester B. Pearson High School, and was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta (parents Tim O'Neil and Alison Yeung). O'Neil has worked at a daycare centre, and has been involved in local musical theatre productions. Her mother has been quoted as saying that the singing only really started three years ago. Melissa has one sibling, a younger brother named Colin whom she is very close to.

O'Neil's heritage is Chinese, Irish and French. Her Chinese name given to her by her maternal grandfather is pronounced Oh Seemun which means lady-like in Cantonese.

Currently in the writing phase of her sophomore album, O'Neil is getting ready to showcase a new sound featuring a pared-down band and her own lyrics. The album is expected to be released Summer 2007. [1]

1 Career as a Canadian Idol contestant
2 Canadian Idol performances
3 Career after her win
4 Discography
5 Chart Performance
6 External links

[edit] Career as a Canadian Idol contestant

O'Neil's audition was not featured on the Western Auditions episode of Canadian Idol.

During the Top 100 round, O'Neil wasn't featured a whole lot but on the first day, she was shown singing "Concrete Angel" acappella. On the final day of competition, she was seen freezing and forgetting her song. It didn't matter, however, as the judges agreed she should move on to the Top 32.

O'Neil became a member of the Top 10 after receiving the highest amount of votes in her Top 32 group, singing Martina McBride's "Concrete Angel". She was in the bottom three the first two weeks of competition, despite the judges' approval of her performances. However, from the third week on, O'Neil became, in the words of Zack Werner, "a threat to win the whole thing". She was not in the bottom three after that point.

On September 7, 2005,O'Neil made it to the final two.

On September 13, 2005 (the Top 2 showdown), judge Zack Werner told O'Neil that the headlines of the next day's newspapers would be "The King is dead, long live the Queen."

On September 14, 2005, O'Neil defeated Rex Goudie to become the third Canadian Idol and the first female winner. She won a recording contract with Sony BMG as well the chance to release the winner's single, "Alive". "Alive" proved to be extremely popular with radio stations and is still in heavy rotation.

[edit] Canadian Idol performances

[edit] Audition

"If I Ain't Got You" (original artist Alicia Keys)

[edit] Semifinals

Top 200: "On My Own" (from Les Misérables (musical))
Top 32: "Concrete Angel" (original artist Martina McBride)

[edit] Finals

Top 10: "Believe In You" by Amanda Marshall (Bottom 3)
Top 09: "Living for the City " by Stevie Wonder (Bottom 2)
Top 08: "Holding Out for a Hero " by Bonnie Tyler
Top 07: "It's Delovely " by Ella Fitzgerald
Top 06: "Alone" by Heart
Top 05: "My Own Way To Rock" by Burton Cummings
Top 04: "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley
Top 04: "You'll Never Walk Alone" by Elvis Presley
Top 03: "The Old Apartment" by Barenaked Ladies
Top 03: "When I Fall" by Barenaked Ladies
Top 02: "Angel Of The Morning" by Juice Newton
Top 02: "A Broken Wing" by Martina McBride
Top 02: "Alive" by Melissa O'Neil (Winner)
Finale: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (with Rex Goudie & Kalan Porter), "Against All Odds" (with Rex Goudie), "It's Delovely" by Ella Fitzgerald and "Alive" by Melissa O'Neil

[edit] Career after her win

Then-Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin gave Melissa a congratulatory phone call, immediately after the win.

O'Neil's single "Alive" was released to stores on October 4th, 2005. The single entered the Nielsen SoundScan charts at # 1 and remained at that position as late as November 3rd. [2] In January 2006, Alive was certified a Quadruple Platinum Single.

Melissa O'Neil, her self-titled debut, was released on November 22, 2005 and was certified gold in Canada (50,000 album units shipped) in the March of 2006. She was presented with a certified gold award on the Season 4 finale.

O'Neil embarked on her cross-country 'Let It Go' Tour with Runner-Up Rex Goudie on February 17, 2006 in North Bay, Ontario.

On April 6, 2006, O'Neil and Goudie confirmed in an interview with the CTV entertainment program eTalk Daily that they have been dating since the third week of Canadian Idol.