Everything about David Hernandez totally explained
David Anthony Hernandez (born
May 31,
1983) is an
American singer and the twelfth place finalist of FOX's
seventh season of the television series
American Idol.
Biography
Hernandez was born
May 31,
1983 in
Phoenix, Arizona, but grew up mostly in
Glendale. He was raised by his single mom, Spring Hernandez, in a broken family. His father is a truck driver and he's a younger sister named Alexandra who is eight years younger than him.
He began singing at age six. His grandfather took him on his first audition for a local theater company named Valley Youth Theater. He got one of the lead roles and knew that singing and performing was the only thing out there for him. Hernandez used to train at Voices, a vocal coaching studio. His teacher claimed that Hernandez trained "whenever he could afford it" since he wasn't always financially stable.
He was a young gymnast when he was a little kid and won around ten medals in the Grand Canyon Olympics during that time. Hernandez had some acting experiences and was in an independent film before his American Idol journey. He also once had aspiration of becoming an infotainment show host.
As a teenager, Hernandez went to a college in
Tuscon, Arizona. During college, he'd a job selling knives door-to-door. After college, he was a student of
Arizona State University, majoring in
broadcast journalism.
Before American Idol, he worked hard and basically took various jobs to support his living, including singing on cruise ships, working as a server at a pizza bistro, and working at night clubs. Hernandez also used to sing with a local Phoenix cover group called Tribe 7.
He just recently moved to
Los Angeles, California to pursue his music career after his time on American Idol.
Musical Influences
On his American Idol "Fast Facts" page, David cites musical influences as:
Stevie Wonder,
Donny Hathaway,
Alicia Keys,
Anthony Hamilton,
Michael Jackson,
Peabo Bryson. When asked to list his top pop artists, he cites; Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Peabo Bryson. He also cites
Fantasia Barrino and
Kelly Clarkson as his favorite former American Idol contestants.
Randy Jackson claimed after one of his performances on American Idol that Hernandez has a Stevie Wonder vibe coming from his singing style. Hernandez himself described his sound as pop and R&B influenced.
Musical Background
David Hernandez was once part of a singing group called Vinyl Four which consisted of four singers prior to his appearance on American Idol. The group performed on the cruise ships. Hernandez also has performed with the Latin/R&B bands Tribet and Straight up. Prior to his participation on American Idol, Hernandez has performed at Urban Network Events,
Arizona Idol and at a
Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade. He was a finalist in Arizona Idol (the winner of the competition secures a chance to audition for FOX's American Idol). After failing to take first place, he traveled to San Diego to audition successfully for the seventh season of American Idol.
American Idol
Overview
David Hernandez auditioned for American Idol season 7 at
San Diego, California, singing "
Ain't Too Proud to Beg" in front of the judges. All the three judges loved his audition and let him advance to the Hollywood round. In Hollywood, he sang "
Love the One You're With" for his audition and received unanimous praise from the three judges. Hernandez was finally chosen as one of the Top 24 semifinalists for season 7 (albeit with some hesitance from Simon).
During the first week of the semifinals, Hernandez was the first contestant to perform. He performed "
In the Midnight Hour" and was voted through the next round. During the top 20 week, he performed The Temptations' "
Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". This performance received praises from all the three judges and converted
Simon Cowell into a fan. His "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" was both vocally convincing and demonstrated a degree of showmanship that he'd previously been missing. After performing "
It's All Coming Back to Me Now" during the Top 16 week,
Paula Abdul claimed that he's one of the best vocals in the competition. Simon added that he definitely secured his place in the finals on that. Hernandez was voted through to the Top 12 the following day.
Hernandez, considered by some an early favorite, was the first member of the Top 12 to be eliminated, on March 12, 2008. Hernandez, along with 11th place finisher
Amanda Overmyer, won't be performing on the annual summer tour.
Performances and results (during voting weeks)
Controversy
Hernandez was revealed by
VotefortheWorst.com to have worked as a male stripper named "Caden" in Phoenix, AZ. According to the owner of Dick's Cabaret, David's job included a routine featuring full nudity and performing lap dances for male clientele. No disclosure of his career as a stripper was made by Fox prior to the release and he was allowed to remain on the show.
After Hernandez's early elimination from American Idol Top 12, some conspiracy theories arose concerning his elimination.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the co-host of the daytime talk show
The View, came out with this conspiracy theory. "My mind went, ‘You know what? This is a conspiracy. American Idol maybe didn’t want to deal with the fact that he'd this shady– so-called - past and they blocked all of his phone calls of people voting for him. Because he’s good - he's good - despite his… whatever he was doing on the side. But I think he actually deserved the spot to be there and I feel like maybe they were just trying to get him off the show."
Post Idol
After he was eliminated on
American Idol, David Hernandez made various appearances on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show,
Today Show,
Access Hollywood,
TRL, and
TV Guide's
Idol Tonight. He was subsequently asked to perform at The Children's Hospital of New York Presbyterian where he sang "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" (performed during the Top 20 week) and "In the Midnight Hour" (performed during the Top 24 week).
During his appearance on
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, David Hernandez performed the song "In the Midnight Hour". He also had some little dances with
Ellen after his performance.
Hernandez was invited to sing the National Anthem at US Airways Centre (Phoenix, AZ) on April 4, 2008 for the
Phoenix Roadrunners Hockey Game Finals.
On May 1, 2008, Hernandez made an appearance at
TV Guide's Sexiest Stars 2008 Party.
It has been reported that major publishers are writing songs specifically for Hernandez. Hernandez has stated many times that he aspires to have an album out by 2009, and currently hopes to be in the position to shop around for a major record deal. He claimed that his first album is definitely going to be pop- and R&B-influenced, and he'd like to write his own songs on the album. "It's definitely going to be an eclectic kind of vibe. I'd like to put a little bit of rock and R&B in it too. That's the kind of image I want to put out there. I'm more of an R&B, grit-and-grind kind of singer." Hernandez is currently writing and recording some songs while waiting for a record deal. Sources on HernandezFans.com claimed that he's currently working with producer Joshua Bass on material.
Further Information
Get more info on 'David Hernandez'.
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