 
Those of you unfamiliar with the spoilers may have been surprised when David Osmond, son of Allen and nephew of Donny Osmond, was eliminated after the Hollywood group rounds during Wednesday’s American Idol Season 8 episode.
I got an email tip that David said, in a radio interview yesterday, that the judges knew he had laryngitis, and that his other group members made it through, despite forgetting their lyrics.
David explains what happened to him that day in this blog post. Read the excerpt below:
The night before, we organized ourselves into groups. We picked our song from a short list, I choreographed a dance routine, and we rehearsed like crazy until we had it down. I was stoked with how our song turned out. It sounded REALLY good, and everything was great. Even that next morning at a 6:30 AM breakfast things were totally fine. We rehearsed together and it sounded awesome. Wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ at least until that afternoon.
I was sitting in the second row of the Kodak Theatre, the judgeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s table was to my right. I was sitting with my à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“group,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ and we were waiting hours and hours just for our turn to go on stage. We were group number 26 out of 28 to perform, so we didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t take the stage until about 10 oà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢clock that night. It wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t until around lunch that the freaky thing started to happenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ something that has never happened to be before in my careerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ I lost my voice! Not just kind ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ or halfwayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ but full-blown laryngitisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ GONE!
From midday on, I felt my voice just start slipping and slipping away, and I couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t do a thing about it. I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t feel sick at all, my voice just stopped working. It was so weird. I couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t even get a tone out.
Well, I was hoping they would at least give me another chance to. In fact, just like the song we sang said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“If you hold on for one more day, things will go your way.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ I hoped to stick around for one more day and sing for them the way I really wanted to. The judges even asked me, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Dude what happened dawg!?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ I explained that I was fighting laryngitis, but I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t make any excuses. I was in Hollywood to sing, and asked for exactly that opportunityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ to sing for them the way I knew I could. But in my gut I knew it was inevitable.
We went offstage for about 30 minutes while the last 2 groups went and the judges deliberated. During that time, the words of Barry Manilow kept running through my head. He spoke to us on the first day of the week. He said, first, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t get sick!à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Whoops! But he also said something profound. He said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There is no luck in success. None at all. The definition of success is: Preparation meets opportunity! And here is your big opportunity. Are you prepared for it?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬
I thought about how Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve worked so hard and prepared my whole life, waiting for this type of opportunity to share my talents. And in that short moment, my voice was taken. I have to tell you, the way it happened was too coincidental and too freaky for me not to believe there was absolutely a reason for it. I believe everything does happen for a reason, and I am at such peace with how everything turned out.
After the judges deliberated and our group was asked to go back on stage, they simply said, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Sorry David, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s the end of the road for ya.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ That was it. No explanation or drawn out dramatics. Just a simple finish.
Ha ha, they chose to sing a Wilson-Phillips song? That might have done him in right there.
All kidding aside, I don’t think the judges necessarily make their decisions about who to advance during the group rounds based on singing. I think it’s a combination of how well the contestant holds up under pressure, their stage presence and creativity. Vocals are one factor.
And less face it, if somebody like front-runner Adam Lambert had developed laryngitis, he would have been given a big honkin’ pass. By now, I think the producers know, in a general sense, who is going to make the cut and who isn’t. I suspect David might have been eliminated even if he’d been in fine voice.
What do you think?
I’m sure another Osmond will try out for AI 9. It’s not like there aren’t enough of them running around Utah looking for a break.
His laryngitis, if indeed that’s the true story, just gave the judges the excuse they needed to get rid of him. I’m sure they were leery of his MS and double leery of him doing to AI what Marie Osmond did to DWTS.
On the positive side for David, he now has the time to go pop out a few dozen kids…
Well now I feel STUPID! I cant believe I misspelled stupid!
I think this is absolutely right, unless of course, there is a breakout star in Hollywood. I think David Hernandez really stepped up during Hollywood Rounds and had a bit of buzz surrounding him after that performance aired. Otherwise he would have probably been cut that week.
I think Osmond had a nice voice, but as I said when he auditioned, he simply didn’t stand out enough. And in a competition when you’ve got people like Adam Lambert and Von Smith and Norman/Nick/Whatever and whoever else making names for themselves in their own individual ways, it doesn’t matter if you come from one of entertainment’s most famous families.
The fact that he didn’t make it out of Hollywood is a little surprising. But, I never would have expected him to make it past Top 50, if I’m being honest.
I just listened to his song on etonline. He does a really great job singing. I have to disagree about not standing out – if this peformance was any indication of what would have been in store for us
, well he has the opportunity right now to capitalize on this. Whoever said he was this years Phil Stacy is more on target to his sound, although he seems much younger!
I agree. I’m hoping to hear much more from him. As some posters have already said, perhaps it’s for the best that he was eliminated. It probably would not have been a good thing for him health wise. On the other hand, though, it may have been very inspriational for those afflicted with MS to see him out there performing. Sigh, I’m still bummed.
I was anxious to see David Osmond this year too…and see what he could do on idol.
I’m a little annoyed by the drama this year. What I want to see is more of the great singers (the ones who actually make it through) and much less of the wannabes and ridiculous people like Laughing/Psycho Girl (a/k/a Tatiana). And Nick/Norman? He may have an OKAY voice, but I don’t even think he’s funny. They put those two, Bikini Girl and the guy who was his high school class president, through to Hollywood at the expense of better singers. Some people made it through because they were “different”??? Since when were we looking for different? I thought we were looking for singers.
I can’t believe the Nick/Norman guy AND Tatiana made it through to Top 36 and yet the judges would not give David Osmond a chance. Seriously, what’s one more day?
And I was REALLY ticked that Bikini Girl ruined it for Rose Flack. I really liked Rose because she had a cool vibe and an interesting voice.
AND…I think the group thing is plain stupid. Why put this much stress on these people when they don’t need to? Most of the group numbers were sad, so why bother? The judges could get a better feel for each contestant’s voice individually anyway.
Sorry…just a little perturbed at Season 8 so far. I ain’t likin’ it!
I agree I think the groups are, well, stupid. I dont think it’s right to let group performances make or break a performer because some of those groups are made of of complete psychos! I’m still grateful Elliott made it through since he was with one of the certifiable Brittenum twins. I’m annoyed that Tatiana is still going to be on my tv screen… that may have to be my weather channel break. I cannot stand her. I feel like Wednesdays episode should have been called “A Day in the Life of a Wannabe Porn Star”. ugh
I’m so afraid VFTW will chose psycho girl and keep her in the competition. Maybe they’ll choose the guy who kept losing it with Nancy and the blonde girl. Not that he was really bad, but he would add drama. (= Ugh is right.
Sorry to disagree, dmr, but… I really liked Rose too, however she did forget her words BIG time. I don’t know how much or how little you can blame of that on Bikini Girl, and how much you can blame on Rose’s youth and inexperience. But I don’t think the entire blame for Rose’s elimination can be blamed on that famewhore Katrina.
At least Osmond is good at excuses. Maybe he was mentored by Michael Johns. Heh.
Disclaimer: It’s just a joke, folks, based on Johnsy saying that he wasn’t in it to win it — AI, that is. Osmond may well have been treated unfairly and I still heart Michael Johns.
His voice sounded pretty good in the video. It’s annoying that they let through some that forgot their lines even though Simon clearly said they’d send you home along with some who were off key (cough – Tatiana) yet weren’t willing to give David another chance.
I’m sad because I wanted to see how he would do on the show, but I’m glad, because now he can get to work on producing music. Both my wife and I loved his voice and loved that he seems like a nice, intelligent, well-spoken person to go with it. We have too many dumb singers who are terrible role models. I, for one, will buy David’s album when it comes out.
This moves Anoop and Danny to the forefront for me.
If the annoyance factor applied, folks like Tatiana, Nancy Wilson, etc. would have been gone by their audition.
I’m sorry we didn’t get to see and hear more of David. I don’t think he expected to ride the coattails of his family name. He’s seems like a very sweet, respectable, hard working, talented guy – someone probably used to having to work even harder because of his name. He perhaps wasn’t talented enough against the likes of Adam and Danny to take it all the way, but he certainly didn’t deserve to be ousted this soon. As someone mentioned, others have been put through for less genuine reasons than laryngitis. I like how he didn’t make excuses though and quickly came to terms with it. He’ll be fine. Be assured that the level of annoyance his famous aunt and uncle reached could never be surpassed. This now gives him an opportunity to be there as a first-time parent for his soon-to-be-born child. Maybe that’s how it was supposed to go…
Maybe it boils down to whether or not you like the Osmonds. I was so turned off by Marie Osmond on DWTS and ever since then dominating ET that I cringed to think that an Osmond would be in the top 12. I am sure he would have stayed a long time because of the many Osmond fans (not to mention the huge family) who would have voted him to stay each week. I also picture the Osmonds taking up two rows of seats every week and dominating the show, with Marie right out in front hogging all the attention. It just sounds horrifying to me. Maybe the AI producers envisioned something similar.
Besides he did have a good voice but there’s so much more to it than that.
Now Tatiana, there’s no reason to have put her through and I hate that side of AI, the manipulation factor. She’s very annoying and I hope she doesn’t make it to top 12. Who would vote for her? VFTW, yeah I know, but I don’t seriously think they have much impact on votes.
I still don’t know why they didn’t like Frenchie. The judges were oddly reserved during her audition and didn’t seem to like her then, and they didn’t show her sing in the Hollywood rounds IIRC. There must be something about her that we don’t know.