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America’s Got Talent Blast from the Past: Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr.

I love watching talent reality TV shows, and at the end of each season I always wonder if the winner is actually going to make something of themselves. I mean…it really seems pretty hit or miss most of the time. With the premiere of America’s Got Talent quickly approaching, it got me thinking about the past winners and if they are successful still, or if they’ve gone back to pre-AGT lives. Over the next few days, I’ll dive back into the past and see which winners of America’s Got Talent are still going strong, and who (if any), have, well, fallen out of the limelight and back into the shadows.

Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr., the winner of AGT 2011 and jazz singer from West Virginia, was the whole package last year. He had a touching back story (remember — he was homeless at the age of 19) and a soft, crooning voice who made it through the competition singing songs from famous crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Let’s revisit the song that helped Landau triumph over his competition last year?

I don’t know about you, but his voice sure gives me the chills. There was some great competition last year, especially when it got down to the final four, but I’m glad he ended up winning. So how is Landau Murphy doing today?

Well, it seems pretty well. Especially considering where he was a few years ago. Not only did Landau release his first album, That’s Life, this past November, which hit #34 on the Billboard Top 200 and #1 Jazz album on Amazon, but he has been doing shows across the country since, many of which have been sold out. He also has been giving back by appearing in public service announcements for the Red Cross and in several benefit concerts. On May 6th, Laundau received an honorary Doctorate of Music Degree from the University of Charleston.

So even though Landau doesn’t seem to be charting any top selling lists lately, he seems to be doing pretty well for himself.

If you can’t get enough of Landau, he currently is touring the country. Check out his tour dates at http://www.laundaumurphy.org for more information!

May 9, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is a journalism student at Brigham Young University in her senior year. She is originally from Littleton, Colorado, and hopes to move back there after graduation. Reality television is her favorite to watch, and has enjoyed writing about America's Got Talent and A Chance to Dance. She is a stay-at-home-mom who enjoys writing (especially blogs), cooking and sewing (while spending far too much time on Pinterest finding inspiration) and being outside with her husband and son.

Michael Grimm Released Self-Titled Epic Records Debut

I just got word that Michael Grimm, winner of America’s Got Talent, released his self-titled (Michael Grimm) Epic Records debut May 17th! Here’s a list of songs from the album:
You Don’t Know Me You Don't Know Me - Michael Grimm
Fallin’ Fallin' - Michael Grimm
Simple Man (feat. Travis Tritt) Simple Man (feat. Travis Tritt) - Michael Grimm
Let’s Make Love Again Let's Make Love Again - Michael Grimm
Champagne and Wine Champagne and Wine - Michael Grimm
Something I Said Something I Said - Michael Grimm
Stay With Me Stay With Me - Michael Grimm
Gasoline and Matches (feat. Ann Wilson) Gasoline and Matches (feat. Ann Wilson) - Michael Grimm
Suddenly You Are Suddenly You Are - Michael Grimm
No Other Love No Other Love - Michael Grimm
Stay With Me (Baby) Stay With Me (Baby) - Michael Grimm
I Am I Am - Michael Grimm
Red Red - Michael Grimm

You can also check out the new video for “Fallin’” Fallin' - Michael Grimm below:

May 18, 2011 I Written By

Jessica Price and Her Band Trying to Open for Kiss

I’m sure many of you remember Jessica Price (one of my favorite acts ever on America’s Got Talent). Well, I guess she’s singing in a band (I think I posted some videos of her band before) and they have a chance to open for Kiss in Michigan. Here’s the email I got about the opportunity:

Hi. Remember Jessica Price? Well her band is in a competition to open for KISS in Detroit, Michigan. However, they need some more votes. The top five bands get an audition for the gig so if you could please go to eventful.com/kiss and under Detroit Metro Area vote for Jessica Price band, they would really appreciate it. Voting ends Saturday!

Thank you very much,
Patricia

Let’s support Jessica and vote for her band.

August 27, 2010 I Written By

Past AGT Contestant Holly Hardin on American Idol

It’s always interesting to see what happens with past contestants from America’s Got Talent. So, you can imagine my surprise when America’s Got Talent Alumnus Holly Hardin appeared on American Idol 2010. However, she not only was on the show, but was dressed as a guitar. Seriously. This isn’t a joke. I haven’t found a good quality video of her time on American Idol, but here’s a small portion of Holly Hardin dressed as a guitar on American Idol 2010:

In case, those of you don’t remember Holly Hardin from America’s Got Talent 2008, check out this video of Holly:

She was so much cuter on America’s Got Talent. However, her answers make her look like such a ditz. Which I guess is probably not too far from what she is. I think American Idol tried to make her look as bad as possible so that in future episodes she’ll look better. Either way, she’ll be super entertaining on American Idol. Simon is going to destroy her.

January 13, 2010 I Written By

EriAm Sisters Update

Looks like the EriAm sisters are going to be performing in a number of locations. Here’s a list of upcoming shows:
Moore Theatre Seattle, WA Fri Dec 04 09 07:00 PM
San Jose Parade San Jose, CA Sat Dec 05 09 06:00 PM
San Jose Parade San Jose, CA Sun Dec 06 09 02:45 PM
Olympic Peninsula Port Angeles, WA Thu Dec 10 09 08:00 PM
Glendale country club Bellevue, WA Fri Dec 11 09 07:00 AM

If any of you are in those areas and get a chance to go to their shows, we’d love to hear about your experience. You can find more details about the EriAm sisters shows and music on ReverbNation.

Here’s some more information on the San Jose Parade:
We are pleased to announce that the EriAm Sisters will appear as special guests at the San Jose Parade 2009. The EriAm Sisters are scheduled to perform at the main stage on the following days:

SATURDAY: INFLATION CELEBRATION PERFORMANCE – 6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Inflation Celebration is a pre-parade show with entertainment and the inflation of three giant inflatable helium balloons. Inflation Celebration is located at the corner of Park Avenue and Market Street, in front of the Tech Museum of Innovation, directly across the street from Christmas in the Park.

SUNDAY: PARADEFEST @ CHRISTMAS IN THE PARK – 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
In addition to being a special guest on the Parade rides in the morning, the EriAm Sisters are scheduled to perform after the parade from 2:50 p.m. – 3:20 p.m.
The EriAm Sisters are scheduled to sign autographs/meet and greet with fans from 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

December 2, 2009 I Written By

Donald Braswell to Perform at Carnegie Hall

I just got an email from a fan of Donald Braswell saying that Donald will be performing in Carnegie Hall on November 27, 2009 at 8:00 PM. He will be appearing along with Tim Janis, who is an accomplished musician. This is very cool. Carnegie Hall is an epic place and I’m really happy for Donald.

Word has it that Donald’s second CD will be out in December. You can buy Donald Braswell’s First CD on Amazon.

November 4, 2009 I Written By

Interview with the EriAm Sister from America’s Got Talent Season 4

By Pure America’s Got Talent fan request (and with their help), I was able to get in contact with the EriAm sisters from America’s Got Talent season 4. I was really excited to interview the EriAm sisters, because they were the only act that really moved me this last season. When I saw their first performance I was hooked on these girls. They were awesome and were sent home far too early.

I hope you enjoy the following email interview I did with the EriAm sisters.

Why did you decide to audition for America’s Got Talent?
The experience and exposure you can get by being on a show like AGT is huge and we found out they were coming to Seattle a week before they did and we thought it would be fun to audition. We didn’t really expect or intend to win or go as far as we did we just thought it would be a great opportunity that had the possibility to really accelerate our music career and we are SOO happy we did it.

What were the judges like in person?
Sharon, Piers, David are very sweet people, despite what many people may say. Once all the glamour and TV is over, you find really simple and nice people. Mr. Morgan can be very tough on the contestants and speaks out his mind, as everyone knows, 🙂 so we were always afraid what his next comment will be after our presentation but we are very happy with all of them. Their criticism and comments has helped us to learn a lot in our performance abilities.

What was the craziest thing that happened to you because of America’s Got Talent?
Hugging Nick Canon was our craziest moment. One of Salinas 3 dreams in life is to meet Mariah Carey and with hugging Nick she came very close to it. She said “when I hugged Nick, I could smell Mariah Carey” :-

What was the best thing that happened to you since America’s Got Talent?
We all know music inspires people. But before America’s Got Talent we we never realized how much of an impact we could have on so many younger kids who have big dreams. We get tons of e-mails and messages from young kids who write “they now believe they can achieve their dream because we inspired them”. It is such a great feeling to know that something that you did is inspiring another person and making them think ‘hey, if they can do it, I can do it.” That is the most rewarding thing that can happen to us. But to be really specific, receiving the “key to the city” of Renton, Washington our hometown was by far the biggest and best thing that happened to us after AGT. We want to thank our community and all our supporters for supporting us, throughout all of our careers.

Your website has said you were coming out with an album for over a year. When will be finally get an EriAm sisters album?
Yes, we have worked very hard to record our first album with producers Andrew Lane, John Silva, DJ Freestyle and Kevin Gardner a year ago but for various technical and business related issues, we were not able to release it on time. Now, since we have grown and our vocals have changed so much we want to re-record some of the songs and touch them up before release. We promise the EriAm album is coming very soon. 😀 Stay tuned. Meanwhile, we do have a single “My BFF” on Itunes, Amazon everywhere 🙂

Will you be participating in the America’s Got Talent Live shows in Las Vegas with Kevin Skinner?
No, we were not called to participate in the AGT Vegas show. To be honest, the live show would have been a little hectic to go straight from Hollywood AGT to the Vegas show. We are very happy that we were relieved from the Vegas show and are able to enjoy home until the next wave comes. We do hope to go see it sometime when they begin 🙂

Are you planning a national concert tour? (one fan in Massachusetts wants to know if you’ll be performing there too)
It would be awesome to do a national and international tour to promote our album. At this point, it is too early to tell what is in store for us. However, we hope that 2010 will be a great year and when we do have our tour we promise we will work hard to have one in Massachusetts where we have great fans. 😀

Your YouTube channel has a variety of song types: R&B/Pop/Rock. Can we expect your album to have a similar mix of music?
That is a good observation 😀 We have a hard time finding one type of music that we can be labeled with. We love so many different types of music we can never stick to one. However, a mix of Pop and R&B and some soft Rock is what you could expect from us in the next album. The album has some really amazing songs written by renowned song writers and we hope people will love it as much as we do 😀

Who was your favorite contestant on America’s Got Talent (besides yourselves of course)?
There were so many great act and we really made such good friends with all of them. Barbara, Voices of Glory, Mia, Drew, Recycled Percussion, Kevin Skinner, Erik and Rickie 🙂 are just some of them we had so much fun experiencing AGT with everyone and going out to shop, eat, enjoy Hollywood with them, we bonded so much. We miss everyone so much the contestants and staff were what made this experience so great.

What advice would you give those who want to be on America’s Got Talent?
Well when you open a business people, it is all about Location. Assuming that you have great singing talent, when you audition for singing, it is all about selecting a song that shows your talent. We had the challenge of selecting a song that shows the talent of each one of us and ultimately, we believe the song selection and presentation are the two important aspects of your audition. And in general, just have fun, have confidence in your talent and really try to have fun because if you have fun, what more could u ask for?

Much Love,
EriAm

October 21, 2009 I Written By

Eli Mattson from AGT 3 to Do Live Chat Online

Eli Mattson will be answering questions direct from fans during a LiveCloud VIP Talk session Questions can be submitted in advance of the event. This is good news for many of the readers of this site since Eli Mattson was one of the favorite contestants from past America’s Got Talent seasons. I’ll be interested to hear more about what Eli’s been up to. If you attend the event, stop back here and tell us what you think.

October 20, 2009 I Written By

Interview with the EriAm Sisters – Submit Questions

Many of my regular readers will be very excited that I was able to get in touch with the EriAm sisters. So, I’m planning to do an email interview with them. In true blogger fashion, I’m asking readers of this site to submit questions that they think I should ask the EriAm sisters. Of course, if none of you have questions, then I’ll make a bunch of my own since they were my favorites.

So, leave a list of questions you’d like me to ask the EriAm sisters and I’ll try to include them in my interview of the EriAm sisters.

October 8, 2009 I Written By

Butterscotch Update

I was recently contacted by a representative of Butterscotch, Louis Gregory. From the sounds of things, Butterscotch is doing really well and has been working hard to take beatboxing to the world. In case you don’t remember Butterscotch, you can check out her audition video on America’s Got Talent:

Louis Gregory said that Butterscotch has been working with director Ron Hightower(he did 2 Pac’s videos) and is shooting a video in LA. That should be pretty cool to see when that comes out. Butterscotch is also working with a producer named Gerald McCauley and she was even in studio with George Benson.

Uncle Louie music group has launched Butterscotch’s new website. You can listen to Butterscotch’s music (seems wrong to just call it music) on her website and it also had the following list of events for Butterscotch:
Friday, February 27, 2009 UNLV / Las Vegas, Nevada

Saturday, March 21, 2009 Janesville School / Janesville, California

Saturday, April 11, 2009 University Of Arizona / Arizona

Saturday, May 2, 2009 Music & Unity Festival / Sacramento, CA

Saturday, June 13, 2009 Performance Info TBA / Australia

Sunday, June 14, 2009 Performance Info TBA / Australia

Saturday, May 30, 2009 The Mayor’s City Council Meeting / Private Event

Yes, I know that the Las Vegas event has already past, but I left it on because I’m from Las Vegas and I was so upset when I didn’t hear about her performance until 2 days after the show. Oh well, I’m sure she’ll make it back to Las Vegas again.

You can download the Butterscotch EP on her website’s store. There’s an exclusive track download that’s only available through her website. The track is called “Time for Change.” I’m also told that Butterscotch’s music will be available for download on iTunes in April. Until then, you’ll have to download it from her website if you don’t want to wait.

I’ll probably do a follow up post in April once Butterscotch’s music is available on iTunes. Also, if you happen to go to any of Butterscotch’s events, please let us know and send us a writeup of the event or any pictures and/or videos of Butterscotch performing.

I really loved Butterscotch on the show and so it’s nice to see her doing well after being on America’s Got Talent.

March 13, 2009 I Written By