Alaina Whitaker - News and Updates

Alaina Whitaker is a 16 year old from Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a country singer by nature, though she admits that she has had no formal music training. Alaina Whitaker has often been compared to Carrie Underwood but, for now, these comparisons are more than a little bit premature. During her American Idol audition in Dallas, Alaina showed off her great voice by singing Faith Hill's "Stronger". The judges were all impressed, though they had some pieces of advice for the young singer. Source

Visit this year's Green Corn Festival in Bixby June 28-29 and you just might have the chance to see the next American Idol before she's a star. Alaina Whitaker recently won a competition sponsored by Reasor's where the grand prize was an all-expenses paid trip to the next American Idol competition. Source

The remaining 20 semifinalists performed for America this week, and the viewers voted for their favorites. Tonight, four contestants ? two males and two females ? who received the fewest votes will go home, leaving 16 semifinalists to vie for the American Idol crown. Source

The girls have a very long and extremely impressive list of the places they've performed including local festivals like Mayfest in Tulsa, the Pecan Festival in Okmulgee, the Bluegrass/Chili Festival in Claremore and out-of-state festivals such as Bransonfest in Missouri and the Bella Vista Fall Festival in Arkansas. Alaina and Britney are repeatedly asked to sing the National Anthem at Talons, Oilers and Drillers games as well as before basketball games at Oral Roberts University and the University of Tulsa. They have performed at famous Nashville spots like the Nashville Palace, ‘Tootsies' Lounge and Loretta Lynn's ranch. Source

When Ryan narrowed it down to Alaina and Kady Malloy, everyone in the room felt that Kady was going to go. In fact, she was more stunned than anyone to learn that she would be sticking around another week. Source

The girls also compete individually. In 2004, Brittney was one of the finalists at Branson Idol. Alaina followed her sister's lead, landing one of the final five spots in 2005. Brittney was a finalist in Channel 2's "Gimme The Mike” competition. Most impressive, however, would have to be Alaina's recent accomplishments: in addition to winning Reasor's "Rising Star” competition on May 26, she also won the 2007 Darryl Starbird's Car's and Star's Idol competition. An all-expense paid trip to the next American Idol auditions and a spot singing the National Anthem at the 2007 Country Fever concert in Pryor, Okla. Source

"Sorry, this is embarrassing," she said, turning to get another hug from Kady Malloy, who dodged a bullet Thursday night. Clearly sensing that the traditional walk of shame sing-off was in jeopardy, Seacrest attempted to give Whitaker a pep talk about how far she'd come, and Paula chimed in with her usual positive final note. "You are such a gifted, bright young talent," the judge said. Source

In a touching moment, Seacrest gave Whitaker the choice of whether to sing or not, and when she said she couldn't because it would sound "terrible," the rest of the female finalists came down to surround her and offer support as the teenager soldiered on. Her eyes still red with tears and her voice shaky, Whitaker slowly stepped out from the group hug as the song went on, her voice growing stronger and more defiant as she took center stage for the last time. Source

Alaina did end up singing but by the time that Ryan announced that Brad Pitt was going to be appearing on the April 9 "Idol Gives Back" show, all the girls seemed to have forgotten all about her as they erupted in cheers. Talk about a remarkable emotional recovery! Source

She doesn't appear to have a page of her own, or it's very well hidden. Of course, Alaina is still very young so maybe hasn't branched out too much into shameless self-promotion. Source

In Reality TV Magazine's celebrity blog interview with Alaina Whitaker, she reiterated her shock at being eliminated so early. She'd hoped to make at least the Top 10 and be able to go on tour. "Although it was a shock, everyone has to go home except one person," she rationalized. Source

As one of Idol 7's youngest semifinalists, Whitaker has grown up watching Idol. She said she "definitely loved" Kelly Clarkson and still recalls specific first-season performances, but was surprised by how much work contestants have to put in on a daily basis. Source