David Hernandez

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David Hernandez
David Hernandez at the American Idol, Season 7, Top 12 after party on March 6, 2008.
Background information
Birth name	David Anthony Hernandez
Born	May 31, 1983 (1983-05-31) (age 25) Phoenix, Arizona
Origin	Glendale, Arizona, U.S.
Genre(s)	Soul, R&B, Pop, Gospel
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active	2008—present

David Anthony Hernandez (born May 31, 1983) is an American singer and the twelfth place finalist of FOX's seventh season of the television series American Idol.

1 Biography
2 Musical Influences
3 Musical Background
4 American Idol
5 Post Idol
6 External links
7 References

[edit] Biography

Hernandez was born May 31, 1983 in Phoenix, Arizona, but grew up mostly in Glendale. He was raised by his single mom, Spring Hernandez^[1], in a broken family. His father is a truck driver and he has a younger sister named Alexandra who is eight years younger than him.^[2]

He began singing at age six. His grandfather took him on his first audition for a local theater company named Valley Youth Theater. He got one of the lead roles and knew that singing and performing was the only thing out there for him.^[3] Hernandez used to train at Voices, a vocal coaching studio. His teacher claimed that Hernandez trained "whenever he could afford it" since he wasn't always financially stable.^[4]

He was a young gymnast when he was a little kid and won around ten medals in the Grand Canyon Olympics during that time. Hernandez had some acting experiences and was in an independent film before his American Idol journey.^[5] He also once had aspiration of becoming an infotainment show host.^[6]

As a teenager, Hernandez went to a college in Tuscon, Arizona.^[7] During college, he had a job selling knives door-to-door.^[8] After college, he was a student of Arizona State University, majoring in broadcast journalism.

Before American Idol, he worked hard and basically took various jobs to support his living, including singing on cruise ships, working as a server at a pizza bistro, and working at night clubs. Hernandez also used to sing with a local Phoenix cover group called Tribe 7.^[9]

He just recently moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue his music career after his time on American Idol.

[edit] Musical Influences

On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, David cites musical influences as: Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Alicia Keys, Anthony Hamilton, Michael Jackson, Peabo Bryson. When asked to list his top pop artists, he cites; Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Peabo Bryson. He also cites Fantasia Barrino and Kelly Clarkson as his favorite former American Idol contestants.^[10] Randy Jackson claimed after one of his performances on American Idol that Hernandez has a Stevie Wonder vibe coming from his singing style. Hernandez himself described his sound as pop and R&B influenced.^[11]

[edit] Musical Background

David Hernandez was once part of a singing group called Vinyl Four which consisted of four singers prior to his appearance on American Idol. The group performed on the cruise ships. Hernandez also has performed with the Latin/R&B bands Tribet and Straight up. Prior to his participation on American Idol, Hernandez has performed at Urban Network Events, Arizona Idol and at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. He was a finalist in Arizona Idol (the winner of the competition secures a chance to audition for FOX's American Idol). After failing to take first place, he traveled to San Diego to audition successfully for the seventh season of American Idol.^[12]

[edit] American Idol

[edit] Overview

David Hernandez auditioned for American Idol season 7 at San Diego, California, singing "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" in front of the judges. All the three judges loved his audition and let him advance to the Hollywood round. In Hollywood, he sang "Love the One You're With" for his audition and received unanimous praise from the three judges. Hernandez was finally chosen as one of the Top 24 semifinalists for season 7 (albeit with some hesitance from Simon).

During the first week of the semifinals, Hernandez was the first contestant to perform. He performed "In the Midnight Hour" and was voted through the next round. During the top 20 week, he performed The Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". This performance received praises from all the three judges and converted Simon Cowell into a fan. His "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" was both vocally convincing and demonstrated a degree of showmanship that he had previously been missing.^[13] After performing "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" during the Top 16 week, Paula Abdul claimed that he has one of the best vocals in the competition. Simon added that he definitely secured his place in the finals on that. Hernandez was voted through to the Top 12 the following day.

Hernandez, considered by some an early favorite,^[14] was the first member of the Top 12 to be eliminated, on March 12, 2008. Hernandez, along with 11th place finisher Amanda Overmyer, will not be performing on the annual summer tour.

[edit] Performances and results (during voting weeks)

Week #	Theme	Song choice	Original artist	Order #	Result
Top 24 (12 Men)	1960s	"In the Midnight Hour"	Wilson Pickett	1	Safe
Top 20 (10 Men)	1970s	"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone"	The Temptations	6	Safe
Top 16 (8 Men)	1980s	"It's All Coming Back to Me Now"	Pandora's Box	4	Safe
Top 12	Lennon/McCartney	"I Saw Her Standing There"	The Beatles	8	Eliminated

[edit] Controversy

Hernandez was revealed by VotefortheWorst.com to have worked as a male stripper named "Caden" in Phoenix, AZ. According to the owner of Dick's Cabaret, David's job included a routine featuring full nudity and performing lap dances for male clientele.^[15] No disclosure of his career as a stripper was made by Fox prior to the release and he was allowed to remain on the show.

After Hernandez's early elimination from American Idol Top 12, some conspiracy theories arose concerning his elimination. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the co-host of the daytime talk show The View, came out with this conspiracy theory. "My mind went, ‘You know what? This is a conspiracy. American Idol maybe didn’t want to deal with the fact that he had this shady– so-called - past and they blocked all of his phone calls of people voting for him. Because he’s good - he is good - despite his… whatever he was doing on the side. But I think he actually deserved the spot to be there and I feel like maybe they were just trying to get him off the show."^[16]

[edit] Post Idol

After he was eliminated on American Idol, David Hernandez made various appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Today Show, Access Hollywood, TRL, and TV Guide's Idol Tonight. He was subsequently asked to perform at The Children's Hospital of New York Presbyterian where he sang "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (performed during the Top 20 week) and "In the Midnight Hour" (performed during the Top 24 week).

During his appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, David Hernandez performed the song "In the Midnight Hour". He also had some little dances with Ellen after his performance.

Hernandez was invited to sing the National Anthem at US Airways Centre (Phoenix, AZ) on April 4, 2008 for the Phoenix Roadrunners Hockey Game Finals.

On May 1, 2008, Hernandez made an appearance at TV Guide's Sexiest Stars 2008 Party.

It has been reported that major publishers are writing songs specifically for Hernandez. Hernandez has stated many times that he aspires to have an album out by 2009, and currently hopes to be in the position to shop around for a major record deal.^[17] He claimed that his first album is definitely going to be pop- and R&B-influenced, and he would like to write his own songs on the album. "It's definitely going to be an eclectic kind of vibe. I'd like to put a little bit of rock and R&B in it too. That's the kind of image I want to put out there. I'm more of an R&B, grit-and-grind kind of singer."^[18] Hernandez is currently writing and recording some songs while waiting for a record deal.^[19] Sources on HernandezFans.com claimed that he is currently working with producer Joshua Bass on material.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

v • d • e American Idol season 7

Finalists	David Cook · David Archuleta · Syesha Mercado · Jason Castro · Brooke White · Carly Smithson · Kristy Lee Cook · Michael Johns · Ramiele Malubay · Chikezie · Amanda Overmyer · David Hernandez

Other Sources	Episode List · Finale · Tour