Taylor Hicks on Write Track
The Soul Patrol is getting ready to mobilize, and this time the record store is not the destination--the book store is.
America's reigning favorite son, Taylor Hicks, has signed a deal with Random House's Crown publishers to pen his memoir, titled Heart Full of Soul.
The details of his 29-year-old life are set to hit bookshelves in spring 2007 and, according to Publishers Marketplace, will be something of an inspirational book, chronicling his decades-long path to success, from Alabaman bar singer to winner of American Idol.
According to the New York Post, Hicks pocketed a $750,000 advance from Crown, not a bad paycheck for a book he technically won't even be typing.
The paper reports that David Wild, a music journalist who has written for Rolling Stone, among other publications, will be ghost writing the tome.
In keeping with Hicks' everyman appeal, Rick Horgan, an executive editor at Crown, said that while the book will chronicle the obstacles the Silver Fox overcame in becoming an overnight success--albeit one that was 10 years in the making--it will also touch upon universal struggle of those pursuing their dreams.
Hicks' foray into the publishing world marks the second time an Idol has put pen to paper--or someone else has put pen to paper on their behalf--to tell their life story.
American Idol's season-three winner, Fantasia Barrino, released her memoir in 2005, The Fantasia Barrino Story: Life Is Not A Fairy Tale. The book caused minor shockwaves when it revealed that the Grammy-nominated singer had struggled with illiteracy all her life and thus was unable to read contracts, scripts or even sheet music and was forced to immediately memorize the songs she was meant to sing.
The TV-movie adaption starring Fantasia and set to air later this month on Lifetime is also causing a stir. Idol producers have spoken out against the accuracy of the biopic, claiming that the opening scene, depicting an Idol producer suggesting Fantasia drop out of the reality competition after it became public that the singer was a single mother and high school dropout.
"It's absolutely and totally untrue," Ken Warwick told the Post. "I'm the executive producer, Nigel [Lythgoe] is the other executive producer and nobody--to my knowledge--would have said anything like that to her."
As for Hicks, the "Do I Make You Proud?" singer has plenty more in the works.
In addition to the memoir, he'll stay on the road with the American Idols Live! tour through Sept. 24, when it wraps up in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Along with Idol alums Bo Bice and Ruben Studdard, Hicks will also serve as unofficial poster boy for the trio's homestate of Alabama. The state's tourism board announced this week that they will be posting billboards across the country featuring the three famous faces, along with the tagline "Where America Finds Its Voice. Alabama."
The side projects, however, are all simply leading up to why Hicks is on the pop culture radar to begin with: The soul man's debut album, which as of yet remains untitled, is set for release Nov. 14.
Incidentally, the date will be a rematch of sorts of the TV show winner. Fellow Idol finalists Kellie Pickler and Katharine McPhee will release their debuts the same day.
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