Melinda Doolittle

Ladies and gentlemen...your NEXT American Idol...
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...Melinda Doolittle!

That's right. Please, executives at Fox, 19 Entertainment, Simon Fuller, whoever might have a say in this...just end the American Idol competition now.

In its place, I'd like a weekly 2 hour Melinda Doolittle concert, please.

This girl doesn't just sing. She can SANG!!! (That's "sing" with attitude...say it out loud to get the full effect of the word.) And the way she commands the stage--good lord, she's a lil' bit Tina Turner, a lil' bit Aretha Franklin, and a lil' bit Gladys Knight.

Would it be sacreligious to say I'd rather listen to Melinda Doolittle than any of those three?

Not that there aren't other extremely talented folks in the competition. There's a few, that in other seasons, I'd consider front-runners.

But this just ain't fair. Melinda's in a league of her own.

And the best part about the whole thing? She's so doggoned humble about the whole thing. And it's not fake humility either, you know, the kind where it's obvious the person knows they're amazing but they're saying all the right things to sound nice. She looks honestly surprised whenever the judges praise her after each of her performances. No, Melinda still has no idea what a gift she has.

Or for that matter, what a gift she is.

Seriously, if you have DVR or a VCR, record American Idol. If you're not a fan of the show, feel free to fast-forward through the other contestants' bits. There's 3 or 4 other folks that are definitely worth listening to if you're so inclined, but I understand if you're not. At the very least, find Melinda Doolittle's song and listen. You will not spend a more enjoyable 4 to 5 minutes in the rest of your week.

Here's a clip from last week's show. Melinda's singing My Funny Valentine. Enjoy.



LH