The New York Post, no doubt picking up the story from Vote For the Worst, (but not giving them credit, unfortunately) has a lengthy piece in today’s paper about rumored Hollywood contestant, Joanna Pacitti.
Joanna, as you may recall, is one of the rumored Season 8 Hollywood contestants with a long history in show business. Performing since she was six years old, Joanna’s most infamous turn happened in 1996 at the age of 12 when she was fired from the Broadway revival of Annie right before she was to open in NYC. Her parents sued the producers for 50 million dollars. The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
In recent years, she was signed to A&M records, and then appeared on some movie soundtracks, including “Legally Blonde” in 2001 and Bratz: The Movie Soundtrack in 2007. In 2003, she appeared on MTV’s True Life, which followed three kids trying to break into the music business. She tried acting, and then in 2006, Geffen Records, released a single “Let It Slide” that peaked on the Billboard charts at #31. The album that followed, This Crazy Life bombed.
Recently, her song “Circus” was covered by Britney Spears (watch Britney perform it on GMA HERE) Correction: The song is “Out From Under” and is on Britney’s album, Circus, and she’s rumored to be part of a sensational love triangle involving Dancing with the Stars pro Mark Ballas and his girlfriend…
Joanna is, what’s known around the Idol Internets as, a plant. Like Carly Smithson and Michael Johns, who both had failed major record label deals in their past, Joanna’s experience both irks and makes suspicious wary Idol fans. Could the producers have known about her before she auditioned? Why isn’t Idol reserved for the truly unknown?
And like Carly and Michael before her, if Joanna advances to the live competition, her past will follow her, no matter how hard TPTB try to brush it off.
Update: One more correction–The New York Post made a big error. Joanna’s single did not chart on Billboard. Rather, it was her album that charted. This Crazy Life peaked at #31 on on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. Heatseekers charts albums from new artists who have not debuted on the Billboard 200. Somebody over at VFTW pointed this out. I looked it up myself to verify.
After the jump, the piece 20/20 did on the Annie controversy, back in 1996.
