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Fantasia wins 'Idol,' readies for tour with finalists
Fantasia Barrino , a 19-year-old gospel-tinged singer from High Point, NC, emerged as the winner of the Fox-TV talent competition "American Idol" on Wednesday night (5/26), topping 16-year-old runner-up Diana DeGarmo.
Barrino and DeGarmo were the last singers standing from a class of about 70,000 hopefuls vying for a recording contract. Ruben Studdard won the honor last year, and Kelly Clarkson won the show's first competition in 2002.
Barrino's first single will be "I Believe," a song co-written by season-one "Idol" contestant Tamara Gray. Barrino and DeGarmo both sang the song on Tuesday (5/25).
During Wednesday's two-hour broadcast, host Ryan Seacrest said that a record 65 million phone votes were cast this year to determine the winner, easily topping the 24 million that were cast for last year's "American Idol" season finale.
Barrino and DeGarmo--along with the shows other finalists--will embark this summer on the "American Idols Live " tour. The outing is scheduled to kick off in Salt Lake City on July 14, and wraps up in San Jose, CA, on Sept. 26.
Other finalists scheduled to appear include George Huff, Jasmine Trias, La Toya London, Amy Adams, Camile Velasco, Jennifer Hudson, John Stevens and Jon Peter Lewis.
