America's Hot Musician
Encyclopedia
In its first season the program featured National Symphony Orchestra (United States) Principal Second Violinist Marissa Regni, Talena Atfield
Talena Atfield
-External links:* *...
formerly of the all-female-Canadian band Kittie
Kittie
Kittie is a Canadian heavy metal band formed in London, Ontario in 1996. A quartet of women, the group rose to success in 1999 when the track "Brackish" from their debut album Spit became a hit single...
, and jazz trombonist Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
as judges.
History
The program was created by Gregory Charles RoyalGregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
as Artistic Director of American Youth Symphony (AYS) in Washington, DC. The idea developed during the organization's Plight of American Music Initiative Conference at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
There are a number of libraries named in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., among them:* Martin Luther King Jr. Library – Learning Resource Center of the Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, California...
in Washington, DC in February 2006. The conference, which was covered by Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
and Fox affiliate WTTG featured a panel of industry representatives including Travis Bowerman from the Washington Performing Arts Society, Ashley Gauthier, a media attorney from US News and World Report, Malcolm Iniss from Radio One, AYS Executive Director Susan Veres and Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
. The panel discussed ways to engage youth culture in instrumental music performance and the current condition of live music attendance . America's Hot Musician was developed to purposely follow a popular television format to attract more mainstream viewers.
The program began airing on Public, educational, and government access
Public, educational, and government access
Public, educational, and government access television, refers to three different cable television specialty channels...
(PEG) channels in various states in 2006 including Washington, DC, Madison, Wisconsin, Minneapolis and Boston before scheduling to air as a paid program on the Oxygen Network in July 2007. A subsequent legal battle insued in federal court over the show's cancellation and the program aired primarily on the internet and regional broadcast channels WRNN-TV
WRNN-TV
WRNN-TV is an American independent television station licensed to Kingtson, New York.Broadcasting on digital channel 48, WRNN broadcasts a schedule of mainly infomercials and home-shopping programming. The station's studios are located in Rye Brook, New York, and its transmitter is based on Beacon...
in New York and KDOC-TV
KDOC-TV
KDOC-TV is an independent television station based in Orange County, California . The station's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson, California...
in Los Angeles.
The initial 2006 season which had been assembled with musicians from the internet with auditions in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Washington, DC incorporated the winners of that competition into a national version of the program in 2007, with a new crop musicians, which was to air on the Oxygen Network.
The finals of the first season, a combination of 2006 and 2007 competitors was taped at the George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
in Washington, DC on June 13, 2008 and the organization negotiated to have the finals air on Lifetime Real Women
Lifetime Real Women
Lifetime Real Women is a digital cable channel that is the sister network to Lifetime. It was launched in August 2001 and is available in over 10 million homes via digital cable...
on July 12th and 20th 2008. Comedian Vic Christian and Clare Dagress were added as hosts. Violinist Liesl Schoenberger was voted the first season winner.
The show released a first season winner's recording with Canadian Idol finalist Sarah Loverock in October, 2009.
The release entitled The Dreamer, which was written by judge Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
, was certified Gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association CRIA
Cria
A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically...
on November 4, 2009.
America's Hot Musician aired on Lifetime Real Women in July 2008 [13] with Royal, National Symphony Orchestra Principal Second Violinist, Marissa Regni and nu-metal bassist, Talena Atfield as judges, hosted by comedian Vic Christian.