Sanjaya Malakar life and biography

Sanjaya Joseph Malakar is an American singer of Indian origin, who was a finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon Cowell.

After Idol, Malakar made many television guest appearances and has been commonly parodied in popular culture. He got to 5th place in season two of the reality television show I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.

Malakar was born in the Seattle metropolitan area. His father, a musician, is a Bengali Indian named Vasudeva Malakar, who immigrated to the United States, and his mother is an Italian American named Jillian Recchi Blyth.
Malakar attended Martha Lake Elementary School in Lynnwood, Washington for elementary school, and the Seattle Waldorf School and Northshore Junior High School for middle school in Bothell, Washington.
He attended Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington during freshman year, and Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Washington during sophomore year. After his sophomore year, Malakar passed the General Educational Development test, in order to leave high school early and focus on a music career and on his participation in American Idol.

On September 19, 2006, Malakar, a shy teen, entered the open audition for American Idol at the Seattle Center in Seattle, with his sister Shyamali. Simon Cowell commented that Sanjaya had a better voice than his sister. Both were advanced to the Hollywood round by the judges. Malakar cited Stevie Wonder as his idol, and sang one of Wonder's signature songs, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" at his Seattle audition.

For his next performance, in Hollywood, Malakar sang "Some Kind of Wonderful". He was shown tearfully embracing his sister when she was cut, though he progressed to the Top 40. Next, Malakar sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
The judges were largely critical of his performance, though Simon Cowell admitted that Malakar is popular with the voters while Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul gave a more positive appraisal of his "You Really Got Me" performance in the Top 11.
A 13-year-old girl named Ashley Ferl was highlighted repeatedly during Malakar's performance in the Top 11 episode, crying tears of joy, although Ferl also cried for Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks, and many other contestants.

On March 27, 2007, Malakar sang No Doubt's "Bathwater" wearing a fauxhawk made from multiple ponytails. The style was called the "ponyhawk" by host Ryan Seacrest.
While singing, Malakar hesitated with some of the words to the song. Simon Cowell remarked, "Sanjaya, I don't think it matters anymore what we say ... I think you are in your own universe and if people like you, good luck." The following night, host Seacrest walked out on stage wearing a wig with the same hairstyle, parodying Malakar.

On April 3, Tony Bennett was the featured celebrity on the show, and he met with each performer. Malakar sang "Cheek to Cheek", wearing a white suit, donning a slick hairstyle (with a recent cut), and dancing with judge Paula Abdul. Abdul commented, "I get it. I get why people love you. You are charming."On the following April 4 results show, it was revealed that Malakar had finished in the "middle three," among nine contestants.

Malakar's performance of "Bésame Mucho" in the Top 8 on April 10 was his first unanimously well-received performance by the judges in the finals of the competition. During rehearsals Jennifer Lopez remarked, "I like this kid. I love Sanjaya!" after hearing him sing in Spanish, the only one of the remaining eight contestants to do so on the Latin-theme night. Randy Jackson commented, "You’re one of the smartest contestants I've ever met. That was actually really good. It was," while Simon Cowell offered the halting, "I'm going to hate myself for this. It wasn't horrible." Malakar continued on, entering the Top 7, following that performance on the April 11 results show.

After performing "Something to Talk About" on the previous night, Malakar was placed in the bottom three and was subsequently eliminated in 7th place on April 18, 2007.Singing his farewell performance, after the line "let's give them something to talk about", he ad libbed "other than hair" in place of "how about love".

American Idol's ratings dropped 9% in the episode following Malakar's elimination, which was Idol Gives Back, a charity episode featuring many celebrity guests. The music news website Moldolva.org that reported this was due to Malakar's departure.

On the May 23 American Idol finale, he performed with the top six males, introduced Smokey Robinson in the medley. Malakar performed "You Really Got Me" with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry on guitar.

Malakar was the season's most talked about American Idol contestant, based on articles and searches conducted on the Internet.One American Idol fan on MySpace claimed to be on a hunger strike until Malakar was voted off. She later admitted that she was canceling her strike, after his stay was longer than expected. In her YouTube video, an advertisement for FitnessSingles.com was prominently displayed, causing speculation her hunger strike was really for profit.
Other members of the MySpace online community created a page entitled Team Sanjaya in support for him. However, members of the online community have contributed semi-fictional web sites, appearing to portray Malakar in a more satirical but supportive way. Websites parodying Malakar's success had also appeared.

An official fansite for Malakar was created with approval of and contributions by the entertainer and his mother Jillian Blyth, and archives include in-person reports for each 2007 American Idol Concert Tour event.
Since Malakar placed in the top 10, he qualified to perform as part of the 2007 American Idol Concert Tour, which, over three months, visited over 50 cities in Canada and the US. He performed Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel" during the tour.

Shortly after his run on American Idol ended, Malakar attended the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner as a People magazine guest, where he saw then-President George W Bush. Malakar was popular among the press and fans at the dinner, and was even prompted for an autograph by then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.

Several magazines honored the singer, including Us Weekly, People, TIME, and Teen. He was featured in Us Magazine’s April 20, 2007, issue in an article entitled "Sanjaya Speaks", where he was asked about his reactions to the parodies, Simon Cowell, Howard Stern and to his new celebrity status.
He was featured in the May 7, 2007, issue of People, where he talked about his American Idol run, his younger years, and future aspirations. The article mentions that he was raised vegetarian, a diet he no longer follows. In TIME's 2007 "TIME 100 POLL for The Most Influential People of the Year", based on online public votes, he ranked third. He was nominated for Teen’s 2007 "Top Ten Most Cutest".

He was nominated for "Best Reality Show Star" in AZN Television's annual Asian Excellence Awards and was a presenter at the awards ceremony aired May 24, 2007 on E!. At the 2007 Teen Choice Awards on August 26, he was named "Best TV Reality Star". He grabbed a nomination and a win for Fox's 2007 Golden Realitini Awards. At the October 13, 2007 show, he was nominated for "Most Memorable Reality Personality of the Year", and he won the "Favorite Reality Game Loser" award at the awards ceremony, where he was a presenter. Malakar won Fox's 2007 Golden Realitini Award for Favorite Reality Game Loser aired. “Sanjaya’s Ponyhawk” was ranked as #3 in the 2007 "Top TV Moment" video searches by AOL.

In the months following Idol, Malakar appeared as a guest on multiple television shows, including The Tonight Show, Access Hollywood, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show, The Morning Show, Extra, The Early Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Rachel Ray Show. Additionally, he got "slimed" on Nickelodeon. He also appeared with the rest of the top 10 on Larry King Live, Access Hollywood, and Good Day L.A.

Upon meeting Billy Ray Cyrus, Malakar reported discussing a guest spot on Disney Channel's Hannah Montana in an April 20, 2007 interview with Access Hollywood.

On May 22, 2007, a one-minute short I Am Art, co-produced with Will Ferrell, was released online with Malakar playing Bill Vendall, a 25-year-old graduate student of the arts, who created the character "Sanjaya Malakar" to appear on American Idol, as an installment of his thesis.Malakar released a follow-up video explaining it was a joke, since some believed Bill Vendall was real.

Malakar also hosted an American Idol show on the TV Guide channel called Idol Stars: Where Are They Now?, talking about what past Idol stars are currently doing. Malakar also mentioned that he was continuing music and he helped write the book, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul.
Malakar also wrote an autobiography entitled Dancing to the Music in My Head: Memoirs of the People’s Idol in 2009. He reported that he received a $100,000 advance for the book. In India, Malakar received his first acting role, where he starred in a Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company commercial, where he seeks help from a guru.

In May–June 2009, he starred in the reality show second season of the reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! along with Torrie Wilson, Holly Montag, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt, Stephen Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin, Janice Dickinson, Lou Diamond Phillips, John Salley, Frangela and Patti Blagojevich. On the show he earned the nickname "Jungle Boy" in recognition of how comfortable he appeared in the jungle. He developed a close friendship with the older Holly Montag, as such, her sister Heidi had dubbed them "SanJolly". They have stated that they are not in a relationship, but do spend considerable time together.

In May 2010, Seattle Weekly reported that Malakar was working as a singer for Pagliacci Pizza, a Seattle-based pizzeria chain.
On February 23, 2011, Malakar joined the off-Broadway musical Freckleface Strawberry at New World Stages.

Malakar's American Idol CD album 'Sanjaya Malakar', and some singles were offered on iTunes starting June 10, 2007. The Sanjaya Malakar album has reached Top 100 Pop Albums in sales.
Malakar's EP Dancing to the Music in my Head was released on January 20, 2009. Songs from the EP include the singles "A Guy Like Me" and "A Quintessential Lullaby". The EP was released the same day as Malakar's book, titled the same as the EP.
In 2011, he is also releasing his album Life ~ Love ~ Music with the pre-release debut single from the album being a cover of "Tempted",a 1981 hit from Squeeze.

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