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Tell us what Yamin
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BY: MARGI HERWALD ZITELLI City Editor
“American Idol” finalist set to sing for Cleveland fans
Over the course of my journalism career, I’ve interviewed senators, presidential candidates, U.S. and Israeli government officials, and countless local public servants. But as I wait for the cell-phone static that is keeping me from speaking to former “American Idol” competitor Elliott Yamin to clear, I’m more nervous than I’ve ever been on an interview. After all, he’s the first interview subject I’ve actually voted for.
Yamin (pronouced yah-meen), 28, was the sleeper who took last year’s “American Idol” reality TV singing competition by storm, finishing in third place out of more than 100,000 who auditioned and prompting hard-to-please judge Simon Cowell to dub him “potentially the best male vocalist in the history of ‘American Idol.’”
He wasn’t your typical Idol contender n not an R&B belter, a quirky guy with funny hair, or an attitudinous self-proclaimed rock god/diva. He was just some humble Jewish kid from Richmond, Va., who never talked back to the judges and always sang soulfully and in tune.
Yamin may have lost the Idol crown to spasm-prone, gray-haired soul patroller Taylor Hicks, but this past March he released his self-titled debut album, which peaked at number three on the Billboard charts. He plays Cleveland’s 16th annual Great American Rib Cook-Off and Music Festival on Sat., May 26.
The Idol winner is treated to a pre-packaged record deal, but for the third-place finisher, cutting a CD is not guaranteed, explains Yamin over his cell while checking into a hotel.
“I’ve done everything on my own since I was booted from the show,” he says. Before heading off on tour with the other top 10 Idol finalists of last season, Yamin found himself a management team. After the tour, Yamin’s cousin Josh Abraham, an established music producer who has worked with groups like Linkin Park and Staind, “hooked me up with a lot of people.”
Abraham ultimately served as one of the executive producers of “Elliott Yamin,” a jazz- and R&B-flavored pop album for which the singer got to try something new: song writing.
“When I was a kid, I used to write a lot. Poems. But I’ve never tried my hand at writing songs before,” Yamin says. He collaborated with writing teams on several of his album’s tracks and penned the love ballad “You Are the One” on his own.
“I’m still green,” he admits. “I want to become a better writer.”
Since the CD’s release, Yamin has been traveling the country promoting it by singing live on the radio and meeting fans (who call themselves Yaminions or the Yamin Machine). He kicks off his official concert tour this weekend.
The music business has drawn Yamin away from Virginia to Studio City, Calif., although the constantly traveling singer confesses, “I barely know what (my place) looks like.”
With such a busy schedule comes a lot of stress, which requires Yamin to watch his health. Diagnosed with diabetes at age 16, he admits, “It’s been quite a challenge, learning to manage (the disease) with all this pressure. I check my blood more often than usual, but it hasn’t gotten in the way.”
Since becoming a pop culture figure, Yamin has joined forces with the American Diabetes Association. “I try to raise as much money for them as I can.”
The Yamin Dream
The singer was born Efraym Elliott Yamin in Los Angeles to Claudette, an aspiring singer from a large Philadelphia-based Jewish family, and Shaul, an Israeli of Iraqi heritage. Claudette performed in doo-wap singing groups and was “a hometown celebrity” in Richmond, her proud son explains. She had moved to L.A. to follow her dreams of becoming a professional singer, but “it didn’t pan out.”
“I remember being 5 years old with her always singing around the house,” Yamin says. “I always sang with her, but I never studied (music).”
Yamin’s closeness with his mother was made evident on “American Idol,” as the show’s producers frequently cut to shots of her beaming with pride or crying tears of joy at his accomplishments.
During his childhood, Yamin frequently had ear infections and other ear problems, which led to his becoming mostly deaf in one ear. The hearing loss never prevented him from singing, he says, and he’s “used to it. It just gets annoying, always asking people to repeat themselves. It’s a running joke with my friends.”
When Claudette and Shaul’s marriage “began to get rocky,” 10-year-old Yamin moved with his mother back to Richmond. His parents divorced a few years later.
Growing up in Virginia, Yamin notes he wasn’t part of a large Jewish community. “There’s not a lot of Jewish rednecks in Richmond,” he jokes.
It was always Yamin’s dream to be a singer, but he says he “got caught up in the everyday grind n paying the rent, making sure my car would start, managing my diabetes. My dream faded, and I was OK with that. And that didn’t sit too well with my friends and family. They were always on my case about wasting my talent. Singing is the only thing I’ve ever done well.”
Shortly before “American Idol” auditions were to take place in summer 2005, Yamin found himself “at a crossroads,” he says. “I wasn’t going anywhere. I had just lost a good job and was working between jobs at a pharmacy. I had no ambition.”
The closest Idol auditions were 12-and-a-half hours away in Boston. Despite the distance, Yamin and his girlfriend at the time packed up their car and made the trip for one reason. “I had nothing to lose,” Yamin explains. “I figured, the worst that could happen is I waste a couple days.”
An ‘Idol’ Life
Yamin won the “American Idol” judges’ hearts once he made it to the top 24 with a smooth rendition of James Moody’s “Moody’s Mood for Love.” Throughout the competition, he tackled songs by Al Jarreau, Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Queen, but whenever the weekly theme allowed, he came back to his favorite artists, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder.
Little did Yamin know that his first week in the Idol finals would be a Stevie Wonder-themed week, nor that Wonder himself would show up to help the contestants rehearse their songs.
“I grew up idolizing Stevie Wonder,” says Yamin, who got teary-eyed on camera upon meeting the music legend. “They kept it a surprise that he was coming. Suddenly, we’re sitting at the piano, and I’m singing with him. It was a surreal experience!”
Much to Yamin’s joy, Wonder told him that he felt the young singer could truly have a career as a recording artist. “I could have died the next day after that,” Yamin gushes.
During his Idol run, Yamin shared apartments with his fellow finalists. He stays in close contact with many of them, particularly country boy Bucky Covington (whom Yamin calls his best friend from the show) and season five’s heartthrob Ace Young, who lives a scant four blocks away from Yamin’s new California home. The singer also tries his best to stay in touch with Mandisa, Kellie Pickler (whom he calls “Pickles”), and Idol winner Taylor Hicks (or “Tay”).
The 12 Idol finalists “were a tight-knit family,” Yamin insists. “I don’t think any of us looked at it as competing against each other. You were competing against yourself and your last performance. No one was out to get anyone.”
mherwald@cjn.org
Who: Elliott Yamin in concert
When: Sat., May 26, at 3
Where: Great American Rib Cook-Off and Music Festival’s Budweiser Main Stage at Tower City
Tickets: 216-241-5555
or www.ticketmaster.com
Info: www.cleveland.com/rib
Over the course of my journalism career, I’ve interviewed senators, presidential candidates, U.S. and Israeli government officials, and countless local public servants. But as I wait for the cell-phone static that is keeping me from speaking to former “American Idol” competitor Elliott Yamin to clear, I’m more nervous than I’ve ever been on an interview. After all, he’s the first interview subject I’ve actually voted for.
Yamin (pronouced yah-meen), 28, was the sleeper who took last year’s “American Idol” reality TV singing competition by storm, finishing in third place out of more than 100,000 who auditioned and prompting hard-to-please judge Simon Cowell to dub him “potentially the best male vocalist in the history of ‘American Idol.’”
He wasn’t your typical Idol contender n not an R&B belter, a quirky guy with funny hair, or an attitudinous self-proclaimed rock god/diva. He was just some humble Jewish kid from Richmond, Va., who never talked back to the judges and always sang soulfully and in tune.
Yamin may have lost the Idol crown to spasm-prone, gray-haired soul patroller Taylor Hicks, but this past March he released his self-titled debut album, which peaked at number three on the Billboard charts. He plays Cleveland’s 16th annual Great American Rib Cook-Off and Music Festival on Sat., May 26.
The Idol winner is treated to a pre-packaged record deal, but for the third-place finisher, cutting a CD is not guaranteed, explains Yamin over his cell while checking into a hotel.
“I’ve done everything on my own since I was booted from the show,” he says. Before heading off on tour with the other top 10 Idol finalists of last season, Yamin found himself a management team. After the tour, Yamin’s cousin Josh Abraham, an established music producer who has worked with groups like Linkin Park and Staind, “hooked me up with a lot of people.”
Abraham ultimately served as one of the executive producers of “Elliott Yamin,” a jazz- and R&B-flavored pop album for which the singer got to try something new: song writing.
“When I was a kid, I used to write a lot. Poems. But I’ve never tried my hand at writing songs before,” Yamin says. He collaborated with writing teams on several of his album’s tracks and penned the love ballad “You Are the One” on his own.
“I’m still green,” he admits. “I want to become a better writer.”
Since the CD’s release, Yamin has been traveling the country promoting it by singing live on the radio and meeting fans (who call themselves Yaminions or the Yamin Machine). He kicks off his official concert tour this weekend.
The music business has drawn Yamin away from Virginia to Studio City, Calif., although the constantly traveling singer confesses, “I barely know what (my place) looks like.”
With such a busy schedule comes a lot of stress, which requires Yamin to watch his health. Diagnosed with diabetes at age 16, he admits, “It’s been quite a challenge, learning to manage (the disease) with all this pressure. I check my blood more often than usual, but it hasn’t gotten in the way.”
Since becoming a pop culture figure, Yamin has joined forces with the American Diabetes Association. “I try to raise as much money for them as I can.”
The Yamin Dream
The singer was born Efraym Elliott Yamin in Los Angeles to Claudette, an aspiring singer from a large Philadelphia-based Jewish family, and Shaul, an Israeli of Iraqi heritage. Claudette performed in doo-wap singing groups and was “a hometown celebrity” in Richmond, her proud son explains. She had moved to L.A. to follow her dreams of becoming a professional singer, but “it didn’t pan out.”
“I remember being 5 years old with her always singing around the house,” Yamin says. “I always sang with her, but I never studied (music).”
Yamin’s closeness with his mother was made evident on “American Idol,” as the show’s producers frequently cut to shots of her beaming with pride or crying tears of joy at his accomplishments.
During his childhood, Yamin frequently had ear infections and other ear problems, which led to his becoming mostly deaf in one ear. The hearing loss never prevented him from singing, he says, and he’s “used to it. It just gets annoying, always asking people to repeat themselves. It’s a running joke with my friends.”
When Claudette and Shaul’s marriage “began to get rocky,” 10-year-old Yamin moved with his mother back to Richmond. His parents divorced a few years later.
Growing up in Virginia, Yamin notes he wasn’t part of a large Jewish community. “There’s not a lot of Jewish rednecks in Richmond,” he jokes.
It was always Yamin’s dream to be a singer, but he says he “got caught up in the everyday grind n paying the rent, making sure my car would start, managing my diabetes. My dream faded, and I was OK with that. And that didn’t sit too well with my friends and family. They were always on my case about wasting my talent. Singing is the only thing I’ve ever done well.”
Shortly before “American Idol” auditions were to take place in summer 2005, Yamin found himself “at a crossroads,” he says. “I wasn’t going anywhere. I had just lost a good job and was working between jobs at a pharmacy. I had no ambition.”
The closest Idol auditions were 12-and-a-half hours away in Boston. Despite the distance, Yamin and his girlfriend at the time packed up their car and made the trip for one reason. “I had nothing to lose,” Yamin explains. “I figured, the worst that could happen is I waste a couple days.”
An ‘Idol’ Life
Yamin won the “American Idol” judges’ hearts once he made it to the top 24 with a smooth rendition of James Moody’s “Moody’s Mood for Love.” Throughout the competition, he tackled songs by Al Jarreau, Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Queen, but whenever the weekly theme allowed, he came back to his favorite artists, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder.
Little did Yamin know that his first week in the Idol finals would be a Stevie Wonder-themed week, nor that Wonder himself would show up to help the contestants rehearse their songs.
“I grew up idolizing Stevie Wonder,” says Yamin, who got teary-eyed on camera upon meeting the music legend. “They kept it a surprise that he was coming. Suddenly, we’re sitting at the piano, and I’m singing with him. It was a surreal experience!”
Much to Yamin’s joy, Wonder told him that he felt the young singer could truly have a career as a recording artist. “I could have died the next day after that,” Yamin gushes.
During his Idol run, Yamin shared apartments with his fellow finalists. He stays in close contact with many of them, particularly country boy Bucky Covington (whom Yamin calls his best friend from the show) and season five’s heartthrob Ace Young, who lives a scant four blocks away from Yamin’s new California home. The singer also tries his best to stay in touch with Mandisa, Kellie Pickler (whom he calls “Pickles”), and Idol winner Taylor Hicks (or “Tay”).
The 12 Idol finalists “were a tight-knit family,” Yamin insists. “I don’t think any of us looked at it as competing against each other. You were competing against yourself and your last performance. No one was out to get anyone.”
mherwald@cjn.org
Who: Elliott Yamin in concert
When: Sat., May 26, at 3
Where: Great American Rib Cook-Off and Music Festival’s Budweiser Main Stage at Tower City
Tickets: 216-241-5555
or www.ticketmaster.com
Info: www.cleveland.com/rib
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