MUMBAI: While successful music producer Joel Diamond is preparing the CD releases for his next two cutting edge artists, Athene Noelle (www.athenenoelle.com) and Charlie Williams (www.charliewilliamsmusic.com), he was just informed that he won the online simonreplacement.com voting competition (tallying over 58,000 votes), to be the next American Idol Judge, ahead of names like Bret Michaels, Harry Connick, Jr., etc Coming off 3 consecutive #1 CD's on Sony with The 5 Browns, Joel is also working on a remake of "United We Stand" which he is planning to dedicate to the victims and their families of 9/11 at a 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony, to be held on ground zero.
Joel also became aware of another website, Artie Wayne on the Web, where he received over 400 impressive endorsements from major entertainment industry executives, celebrities, musicians, singers, songwriters, actors, and friends as far back in his life as Passaic, NJ.
Facebook friends continually conduct their own independent campaigns for Joel to be the next American Idol Judge, as well.
Joel Diamond, 2x Grammy Nominee and multi-platinum record producer, meets all the challenges of today's music business while keeping his finger on the pulse of the industry every minute Joel has a very successful track record of discovering new talent and creating stars He likes people in a genuine and powerful way, is always happy and optimistic, and has a great sense of humor (www.joeldiamond.com).
Nigel Lythgoe, AI's returning producer, has been quite vocal about his new approach for American Idol 2010 saying, "Don't forget, when I started American Idol, I brought over Simon Cowell, who no one had heard of, and a young man called Randy Jackson...and Paula Abdul..."
"I feel honored and really want to thank everybody for their crusade...there are lots of moving parts that go into making a hit record, but in my opinion, it's always been and always will be about the artist and the song...I'm happy that American Idol is now focusing on the potential fame and success of the contestants rather than the judges...," says Joel Diamond.
Some endorsements received:
DAVID HASSELHOFF - "Joel Diamond is a fantastic choice for an Idol Judge...He's positive, charismatic, and can walk the walk as well as talk the talk...He can spot talent immediately and he was the first...the absolute First to Sign Me, Encourage Me and Send Me On My Way to a Long and Still Shining Music Career."
JOHN FANNING - Chairman, NetCapital and co-founder of Napster, "It's obvious to American Idol that the audience is shifting in a direction Joel dominates. New media, internet, social networks, and the ability to create viral powerful content makes him one of the most sought after talents in music. Most kids watch TV, surf the web, text on their phones, all at the same time. This is a fundamental shift and Joel understands how to thrive on it. When you combine that with his cool, in touch, entertaining persona, it sounds like the right move to me. I'm not sure anyone else is even close."
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK - "Joel is a go getter and would be great for the job. He knows the business like the back of his hand, and is very outspoken in every way. He was partly responsible for my sales of 150 million units sold JOEL is GREAT! My personal opinion, he is an IDEAL contender."
DAVID DEIN - International President of UK World Cup & former Vice Chairman of Arsenal, "David Dein and I, his wife, highly recommend Joel Diamond for this position. We have known Joel for over 30 years and he is consistently warm, gregarious and decisive with humility and wit. We both agree he is the right man for the job and would add value to the program."
TOMMY MOTTOLA - co-owner, Casablanca Records and former head of Sony Music Entertainment, credits his huge success to the same talent of matching song with artist that Joel Diamond passed down to him when he worked as his assistant, Tommy's first job in the music business.