World Idol
Encyclopedia
World Idol was the title of a one-off international version of the television show Pop Idol
, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows around the world competing against each other.
The performance show was held on Christmas Day 2003, with the results show held on New Year's Day 2004. It was made in the UK, using the set from the recently completed second series of Pop Idol
. After presenting the competitors, viewers from the 11 participating countries were allowed to vote by telephone
, but not for the participant from their home country. All participants sang in English
except for Diana Karazon
, who sang in Arabic
.
British presenters Ant and Dec hosted the show in all English speaking countries, while local presenters hosted for their own country in the local language. The only exception to Ant and Dec's English speaking role was that CTV
edited the show in Canada to use Canadian Idol
host Ben Mulroney
instead (the show on Fox
, which used Ant and Dec as hosts, was not simulcast
with the CTV feed, to prevent Canadians from calling the American toll-free number to vote for Ryan Malcolm
). Victoria Beckham
performed her UK #3 hit Let Your Head Go during the results interval.
Judge Simon Cowell
(from the original Pop Idol
) was very critical of the format. He went as far as saying he hated it, in that it made the winners from the ten other Idol competitions into losers. Cowell also thought many of the judges were trying to copy his abrasive style. Television critics also panned the programme, particularly as the UK phone voting was profit-making, whereas tradition dictates that Christmas specials of such programmes donate profits to charity.
, i.e. each country awarded an amount of points from 1 to 10 to each other country, using each number once. The results were:
Each country's Idol automatically gained the maximum 12 points. Therefore the most points an Idol could gain from another country was 10
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows around the world competing against each other.
The performance show was held on Christmas Day 2003, with the results show held on New Year's Day 2004. It was made in the UK, using the set from the recently completed second series of Pop Idol
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
. After presenting the competitors, viewers from the 11 participating countries were allowed to vote by telephone
Televoting
Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone.- Broadcast contest televoting :...
, but not for the participant from their home country. All participants sang in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
except for Diana Karazon
Diana Karazon
Diana Karazon is a Jordanian singer is an Arabic pop singer, television host and actress. She rose to fame after winning the Arabic version of Pop Idol called Superstar in 2003...
, who sang in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
British presenters Ant and Dec hosted the show in all English speaking countries, while local presenters hosted for their own country in the local language. The only exception to Ant and Dec's English speaking role was that CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
edited the show in Canada to use Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol
Canadian Idol is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show Pop Idol. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons...
host Ben Mulroney
Ben Mulroney
Benedict Martin Paul "Ben" Mulroney is a Canadian television host, and is the son of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.-Early life:...
instead (the show on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, which used Ant and Dec as hosts, was not simulcast
Simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
with the CTV feed, to prevent Canadians from calling the American toll-free number to vote for Ryan Malcolm
Ryan Malcolm
Ryan Michael Malcolm is a Canadian singer best known as the winner of the first season of Canadian Idol....
). Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
performed her UK #3 hit Let Your Head Go during the results interval.
Judge Simon Cowell
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
(from the original Pop Idol
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
) was very critical of the format. He went as far as saying he hated it, in that it made the winners from the ten other Idol competitions into losers. Cowell also thought many of the judges were trying to copy his abrasive style. Television critics also panned the programme, particularly as the UK phone voting was profit-making, whereas tradition dictates that Christmas specials of such programmes donate profits to charity.
Results
The points were awarded in a similar fashion as the Eurovision Song ContestEurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
, i.e. each country awarded an amount of points from 1 to 10 to each other country, using each number once. The results were:
| Points Given | Germany | Australia | Pan-Arabia | Canada | Netherlands | South Africa | Poland | USA | Belgium | UK | Norway | Total | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alexander Klaws |
12 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 45 | 9 |
 Guy Sebastian |
2 | 12 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 56 | 7 |
 Diana Karazon |
6 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 45 | 9 |
 Ryan Malcolm |
3 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 62 | 6 |
 Jamai Loman |
1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 36 | 11 |
 Heinz Winkler |
7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 80 | 4 |
 Alicja Janosz |
8 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 55 | 8 |
 Kelly Clarkson |
9 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 97 | 2 |
 Peter Evrard |
4 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 9 | 83 | 3 |
 Will Young |
5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 72 | 5 |
 Kurt Nilsen |
10 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 106 | 1 |
Each country's Idol automatically gained the maximum 12 points. Therefore the most points an Idol could gain from another country was 10
| Rank | Performer | Country | Points | Song | Original artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kurt Nilsen Kurt Nilsen The following is a discography of albums and singles released by Norwegian music artist Kurt Nilsen.-Albums:-Singles:-Other releases:*1998 Shoe... |
Norway |
106 | "Beautiful Day Beautiful Day "Beautiful Day" is a song by the rock band U2. It is the first track from their 2000 album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and it was released as the album's lead single. It was a commercial success, helping launch the album to multi-platinum status, and is one of U2's biggest hits to date... " |
U2 U2 U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music... |
| 2 | Kelly Clarkson Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,... |
United States |
97 | "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel like) a Natural Woman " A Natural Woman" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin on the Atlantic label. The record was a big hit for Franklin, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became a standard song for her... " |
Aretha Franklin Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All... |
| 3 | Peter Evrard Peter Evrard Peter Evrard is the winner of the first season of Idool 2003, the Belgian version of Pop Idol.Evrard defied the traditional rules of the Idols series by singing punk rock music instead of the expected pop. Regardless, he managed to win the series, and in 2003 he placed third overall in the World... |
Belgium |
83 | "Lithium" | Nirvana Nirvana (band) Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987... |
| 4 | Heinz Winckler Heinz Winckler Heinz Carl Heinrich Winckler was the winner of the first series of South African Idols.Born the eldest of three children in Stellenbosch, South Africa, he went on to study law at Stellenbosch University... |
South Africa |
80 | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing I Don't Want to Miss a Thing "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" is a song performed by American rock band Aerosmith for the 1998 film Armageddon. Written by Diane Warren, the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 . The song stayed at number one for four weeks from September 5 to September 26, 1998... " |
Aerosmith Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many... |
| 5 | Will Young Will Young William Robert "Will" Young is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominenceafter winning the 2002 inaugural series of the British music contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the now-worldwide Idols-format franchise... |
United Kingdom |
72 | "Light My Fire Light My Fire "Light My Fire" is a song by The Doors which was recorded in August 1966 and released the first week of January 1967 on the Doors' debut album. Released as a single in April, it spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one week on the Cash Box Top 100, nearly a year after... " |
The Doors The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger... |
| 6 | Ryan Malcolm Ryan Malcolm Ryan Michael Malcolm is a Canadian singer best known as the winner of the first season of Canadian Idol.... |
Canada |
62 | "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother "He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother" is a popular music ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies later that year and again for Neil Diamond in 1970.... " |
The Hollies The Hollies The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s... |
| 7 | Guy Sebastian Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. He is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi platinum albums, including a number-one and... |
Australia |
56 | "What a Wonderful World What a Wonderful World "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999... " |
Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.... |
| 8 | Alicja "Alex" Janosz Alicja Janosz Alicja Janosz was the winner of Polish Idol in 2002. She also appeared in World Idol, where she sang "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar... |
Poland |
55 | "I Don't Know How to Love Him I Don't Know How to Love Him "I Don't Know How to Love Him" is a song from the 1970 rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice , a torch ballad sung by the character of Mary Magdalene who in Jesus Christ Superstar is presented as bearing an unrequited love for the title character... " |
from Jesus Christ Superstar Jesus Christ Superstar Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971... |
| T9 | Alexander Klaws Alexander Klaws Alexander Klaws is a German pop singer, who came to fame as the winner of the first season of the television show Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of Pop Idol.- Early life :... |
Germany |
45 | "Maniac Maniac (song) "Maniac" is a synthpop song performed by Michael Sembello. The song was used in the 1983 film Flashdance and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac.The film Maniac was about a serial killer who stalks his victims in New York City... " |
Michael Sembello Michael Sembello Michael Sembello is an American musician and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Career:Sembello was born and raised in Philadelphia. He studied with jazz great Pat Martino and began his career as a professional musician by becoming a session musician, working increasingly with... |
| T9 | Diana Karazon Diana Karazon Diana Karazon is a Jordanian singer is an Arabic pop singer, television host and actress. She rose to fame after winning the Arabic version of Pop Idol called Superstar in 2003... |
Arab States Arab world The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the... |
45 | "Ensani Ma Binsak" | original song |
| 11 | Jamai Loman Jamai Loman Jamai Johannes Loman was the winner of the first series of Idols the Dutch variant on Pop Idol, pop singer and Dutch musical artist.-Biography:... |
Netherlands |
36 | "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the Blue Moves album. It was his second single on Rocket Records. The song is a mournful ballad about a romantic relationship... " |
Elton John Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor... |
Judges
The judges of the competition were:- Randall Abrahams (South Africa)
- Simon CowellSimon CowellSimon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...
(representing United States, is also judge on original UK show) - Nina De Man (Belgium)
- Ian "Dicko" Dickson (Australia)
- Shona FraserShona FraserShona Kathryn Fraser is a music journalist in Germany, the United Kingdom, and France, having worked for the BBC, MTV, and WDR. She was a judge on Deutschland sucht den Superstar, the German version of Pop Idol, and also represented Germany as a judge on World Idol.-External links:*...
(Germany) - Jan Fredrik KarlsenJan Fredrik KarlsenJan Fredrik Karlsen is a Norwegian artist manager and television personality.Karlsen has worked in the Norwegian music industry since his late teens working for popular Norwegian comedians/singer/songwriters Herodes Falsk and Tom Mathisen...
(Norway) - Elias Rahbani (Lebanon)
- Henkjan Smits (Netherlands)
- Pete WatermanPete WatermanPeter Alan Waterman OBE is an English record producer, occasional songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman songwriting team he wrote and produced many hit singles...
(United Kingdom) - Zack WernerZack WernerZack Werner has had a career in the music industry as an artist, producer, entertainment lawyer and manager. He is also president of Toronto-based Venus Management and Venus Records , where he spends his time finding and developing new talent across Canada.He attended the St...
(Canada) - Kuba WojewódzkiKuba WojewódzkiJakub Władysław Wojewódzki known as Kuba Wojewódzki is a Polish journalist, TV personality, drummer, and comedian.-Career:Wojewódzki was a judge on the Polish Idol. He also was the Polish representative on the World Idol on 25 December 2003....
(Poland)