“American Idol” front runner David Archuleta, who just turned 17, has been praised up and down for his singing and performance abilities since the show began. The young musical prodigy also won a round of “Star Search” when he was only 12 years old. But now, sources say the reason David might be so perfect is that he lives in fear of his dad.
David may seem like an innocent sweet songstress from Heaven, but our inside source says he has a calculating, overbearing, stage dad from HELL! We still endorse him wholeheartedly but, we wanted to share a story from our inside Star Search source, when he won round 1 at the age of 12. According to our reliable source his father was BANNED from the set.
This past week, the show’s theme was “The Lennon/McCartney Songbook.” While most of the contestants were giddy at the prospect of singing Beatles songs, Archuleta confessed that he struggled with the theme, and on the night of the live broadcast, he flubbed the lyrics to “We Can Work it Out.” Backstage sources say that the teen was under intense pressure from his father, who gives him critiques after every performance.
Was there more than just nerves behind 17-year-old DAVID ARCHULETA’s shaky performance on last night’s “American Idol”?
The early favorite was definitely off his game and even forgot several lines during his version of THE BEATLES’ “We Can Work It Out.” Sources are telling ET the singer may be feeling the pressure from his “stage father” JEFF ARCHULETA, who reportedly yelled at David during a recording session Monday. Sources say Dad wasn’t happy with his son’s singing — and even brought him to tears. Neither Jeff nor reps for “American Idol” would comment on the alleged incident.
I hope this isn’t true. David seems like a good kid and he’s incredibly talented. It makes me sad to see parents who live vicariously through their kids (yes, Dina Lohan, I’m looking at you), to the point that they try to take over their kids’ lives. This should be the most exciting time in young David’s life– being on TV, singing on one of the most popular shows in the country. But it sounds like he’s being made miserable- by his own dad.
Poor kid. He is so talented that I’ve been hearing that he will get a recording contract no matter what, and hopefully when he turns 18 he will be able to take control.
I am supposrting him. But am not sure this story is true as someone pointed out that in most videos his dad is still in the audience.
He is so cute I hope he wins.
Yeah he has a nice voice, but so do a lot of people. What is his story? if you do not have a personality with your talent you are not going any where. So what i am saying is that he is boring and so are the rest of the singers on the show!
He reminds me of a dog that used to be beat. He is so eager and wide-eyed, but at the same time he seems timid and like he’s always trying to please. Sad. Hopefully just one more year and he can break away.
I found this comment in another blog and felt it needed to be read whenever people are slamming the Archuleta family.
ET has usually been pretty fair and accurate in their reports, but I have personal knowledge about this situation and don’t feel right about letting a family be dragged through the dirt when I know that the story may be greatly exaggerated if not completely bogus.
I found this on a blog at the link listed below. I worked on the show when David was on Star Search when he won the show, then when he did the Battle of Champions, David, Tiffany and Mark, the 3 winners of the first “seasons” of the show all competed together. .. Then the next year David and dad were part of the Season4 Winner’s Circle. If this would have happened, I would have known about it and would not be here commenting right now. When Tiffany won, David and Mark were totally happy for her as were both sets of parents, they weren’t able to talk to each other until after the show was over because the show kept them all in separate areas for the few days they were there so everyone could just focus on their own child. There is no way that a father of one child could have “cornered” a child because the parents were always in the area their child was at and they were always kept apart. The kids were together for school but that was about it.
..This is just not consistent in any way with what I saw while I worked on the show for 2 years. David, who is one of the nicest kids I’ve ever met and I don’t believe for a minute that his parents would have treated him or Tiffany the way the gossip sites have stated..
BY JKPRODUCTIONS on 03/14/2008 at 4:03am
It is unfortunate, but sometimes a parent gets too involved and tries to ‘make’ things happen and that includes expectations being out of line. I hope things work out for this young man and what his parents do on don’t want will not be be an issue when he turns 18. He will make his own decisions then.
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