Scoop Contributiors Greg Adkins, Marisa Wong, Jennifer Wren, Dorothy Cascerceri,
Sean Daly, Caris Davis, Rachel Felder, Dimi Gaidatzi, Deborah Geering, Monique
Jessen, Oliver Jones, Marisa Laudadio, Linda Marx, Kwala Mandel, Dana Meltzer,
Pete Norman, Vicki Sheff-Cahan, Cythia Wang
People, December 22, 2003
Justin Guarini seemed poised for stardom after winning second place in
last year's American Idol. But he was nowhere to be seen on FOX's American Idol
holiday special that aired last month. What's more, he says, neither his record
company nor his management will return his phone calls. What happened?
Guarini, who made an appearance in a shopping mall outside Atlanta to sign
autographs recently, says contract negotiations kept him from the TV special.
"We couldn't come to terms before the show," he says, "so I went
on a vacation to New Zealand." Guarini's recording career is heading south
as well; his self-titled debut CD sold only 135,000 copies. (By comparison, Idol
winner Kelly Clarkson's album, Thankful, moved 1.7 million units; Clay Aiken,
this year's Idol runner-up, sold 1.4 million copies of Measure of a Man.) RCA
won't comment on reports they will let Guarini's contract expire.
But Guarini, 25, isn't ready to give up the biz. He's in L.A. meeting with
executives at The WB about acting gigs (while staying at the home of The Simple
Life's Nicole Richie, a friend from his pre-Idol days). And he's hoping to cut a
second album. "He's a very talented guy," says Clarkson. "I have
no doubt he'll be back in the public eye soon." Guarini has no regrets.
"I'm not a believer of doing things over. If we could go back and fix all
our mistakes, we'd never learn anything."