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Diana Degarmo: Hairspray Broadway

January 16, 2012 by · Comments Off on Diana Degarmo: Hairspray Broadway 

Diana Degarmo: Hairspray BroadwayDiana Degarmo: Hairspray Broadway, Diana Nicole DeGarmo (born June 16, 1987) is an American singer and Broadway actress. She rose to fame in 2004, when she later became the runner-up of the third season of American Idol. After American Idol, DeGarmo began a career in musical theatre.

In 2011, she joined the cast of the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Angelina Veneziano.

DeGarmo was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but was raised primarily in Snellville, Georgia. DeGarmo began singing at a young age, including at the 1997 Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards and in Atlanta-based stage productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

As a third grader she was a Coca-Cola Kid during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The next year, she sang at Opryland USA during the Christmas holiday season. In 2002, she was named Miss Teen Georgia and was a finalist on the NBC talent search program America’s Most Talented Kid. At ten years of age, DeGarmo was one of the “Cartoon Network”‘s Cartoon Gang and appeared in various segments for the network, discussing cartoons. DeGarmo is niece to Eddie DeGarmo of DeGarmo & Key.

DeGarmo took part in the third season of American Idol in 2004, finishing second after a close race with winner Fantasia Barrino. During her run in the Top 12, she was in the bottom 3 in the top 11, top 9, and top 8 weeks but never fell to the bottom 2. She became one of the front runners by week 6 and did not land in the bottom 3 again.

Jason Castro

January 16, 2012 by · Comments Off on Jason Castro 

Jason CastroJason Castro, Jason René Castro (born March 25, 1987) is a Colombian-American acoustic/folk-pop/contemporary Christian singer-songwriter and was the fourth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. After Idol, he signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records and his self-titled debut album was released on April 13, 2010.
Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Rowlett, Texas, he currently resides in Rockwall, Texas. His parents, René and Betsy Castro, are Colombian, and he is the first person in his family to be born in the United States, followed by younger siblings Michael and Jackeline (Jackie), both of whom are singer-songwriters as well. Spanish was his first language as a child. Though he doesn’t speak the language very often, he has considered making a Spanish album. Their father, René, is an architectural swimming pool designer and singer-songwriter.

He attended Rowlett High School where he was a left winger on his school’s soccer team and an honor student. He received a 1340 out of 1600 on his SAT. Castro was a junior majoring in Construction Science at Texas A&M University in College Station on a full academic scholarship when he auditioned for American Idol.

Castro has sported dreadlocks since his senior year of high school.

Castro grew up playing drums. He taught himself to play the guitar in college. He had no formal voice training before auditioning for American Idol and had previously sung only 5 times in public, mostly during church services.

Castro performed as a drummer with the rock band Charlemagne, which later became Keeping Lions. He has stated that his musical influences include Ray LaMontagne, Ben Harper, Bob Marley, Carlos Vives and Kirk Baxley.

Castro was the love interest of Cheyenne Kimball on her MTV reality show, Cheyenne and was also featured in her music video for “Hanging On”.

On October 31 on Halloween in 2009, Castro proposed to Mandy Mayhall, an alumna of the University of Oklahoma, a sister of Kappa Kappa Gamma and his girlfriend of a year and a half. Castro proposed to her at a tailgate party before the Oklahoma/Kansas State football game in Norman, Oklahoma. The two were dressed as Disney characters Belle and The Beast from the animated film Beauty and the Beast as their Halloween costumes. Castro and Mayhall began dating in 2008 when Castro’s Idol stint began but first became friends in high school at Rowlett High School. Mayhall made a brief cameo in Castro’s music video for “Let’s Just Fall In Love Again”.

As of January 2, 2010 Castro and Mayhall were married in his hometown near Dallas, TX. Castro and Mayhall now reside together in Dallas. Castro and his wife had their firstborn daughter Madeline Emilia Castro, born August 28, 2011.

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