Worst American Idol Judges
“American Idol” just wrapped up its 18th season. The famous singing competition show is known for launching the careers of Grammy-award winners like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and even Oscar winner singer/actress Jennifer Hudson.
Over the years, 14 famous faces have serve as judges on the show. "American Idol" judges are integral to the show's success. While the overall fate of the show's contestants lies in the hands of voters, the judges get to pick at who even makes it to the competition in the first place.
The judges ranged from music superstars and TV icons to producers who usually work behind the scenes. The original trio are Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson and the current panel are Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and the legendary Oscar and Grammy awards winner Lionel Richie.
Which judge do you think is the worst or gave the least positive contribution to show?
“People who judge others tell more about Who They Are, than Who They Judge.” Old saying...
It's your turn to judge them here
Over the years, 14 famous faces have serve as judges on the show. "American Idol" judges are integral to the show's success. While the overall fate of the show's contestants lies in the hands of voters, the judges get to pick at who even makes it to the competition in the first place.
The judges ranged from music superstars and TV icons to producers who usually work behind the scenes. The original trio are Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson and the current panel are Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and the legendary Oscar and Grammy awards winner Lionel Richie.
Which judge do you think is the worst or gave the least positive contribution to show?
“People who judge others tell more about Who They Are, than Who They Judge.” Old saying...
It's your turn to judge them here
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- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1982 in St. James, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago and raised in Queens, New York City, New York. She grew up in a troubled family with a father that was a drug addict who later changed after he checked into rehab and started going to church. Minaj went to LaGaurdia High School and studied singing and acting.
She was first spotted by the CEO of Young Money, and was later recruited for The Carter Edition of Young Money's own "The Come Up" DVD series. Her rapping skills caught the eyes of Lil Wayne who later worked with her for many collaborations with his mixtapes.
In April 2007, Minaj released her first mixtape "Playtime Is Over". One year later she made another mixtape "Sucka Free" which made her Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards. In 2009 she made her third mixtape "Beam Me Up Scotty" which got positive reviews from BET and MTV.
To date, Nicki has released 3 platinum selling studio albums, Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, and the most recent The PinkprintSeason 12- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Mariah Carey was born in Long Island, New York on March 27, 1969. Her parents are Patricia Hickey (Irish-American) and Alfred Roy Carey (African-American/Venezuelan). Mariah attended Greenlawn's Harborfields High School. In June 1990, Mariah made her debut with her self-titled album, Mariah Carey which entered at #73, but on August 4, 1990 it reached #1. Her 1990 self-titled debut album went multi-platinum and spawned an extraordinary four consecutive #1 singles: "Vision of Love," "Love Takes Time," "Someday" and "I Don't Wanna Cry," and led to Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Vocalist. Her 1993 album titled Music Box went ten-times platinum. On September 30, 1995, she made music history. Her single "Fantasy" from her 1995 Daydream album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female artist to accomplish a number one debut in the U.S. Her other Daydream's single "One Sweet Day" remained for 16 weeks at the top of the charts. She is the only artist since The Beatles to have so many #1 singles and albums. With "Heartbreaker", the first single from her 1999 album Rainbow and also her 14 #1 single, she became the only artist to top the charts in each year of the 1990s, and with "Heartbreaker" at its 60th week atop the Billboard's charts, she pushed ahead of The Beatles's 59-week record as the only artist with the most cumulative weeks spent atop Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart.
Following "Heartbreaker," her second single "Thank God I Found You" also from her Rainbow album became her 15th #1. "We Belong Together" from her 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi became her 16th #1 single and was also her first #1 without any guest artists since her song "My All" (also a #1 single) captured the top spot in May 1998. The single "Don't Forget About Us" also from her 2005 album Emancipation of Mimi became her 17th #1 single, tying her with Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Three more Grammy Awards were gained from The Emancipation of Mimi album. She is the most successful selling female artist in music history and is the only female artist to have the most #1 singles and albums and also holds the record for straight #1 singles and albums each year. Along with numerous awards and incredible vocal range, she also composes all of her own material, with the exception of song covers.
In April 2008, the single "Touch My Body" became her 18th #1 single, pushing her ahead of Elvis Presley's 17 #1 singles. Now she is the only artist since The Beatles to have as many number one singles and the only singer alive likely to succeed them.Season 12- Producer
- Writer
- Actress
Emmy-winning talk show host Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born in Metairie, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb. She is the daughter of Betty DeGeneres (née Elizabeth Jane Pfeffer), a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres, Jr., an insurance agent. Her brother is musician and producer Vance DeGeneres. Her parents divorced when she was 16 years old. Her mother remarried, and her new husband, salesman Roy Gruessendorf, moved the family to Atlanta, Texas.
After graduating from Atlanta High School in 1976, Ellen attended the University of New Orleans as a communications major, but she dropped out after one semester. She held a wide variety of jobs until she turned to stand-up comedy, making her bones at small clubs and coffeehouses before working her way up to emcee Clyde's Comedy Club by 1981. Her comedy was described as a distaff version of Bob Newhart. Beginning in the early 1980s, she toured nationally and was named the funniest person in America after winning a competition sponsored by the cable network Showtime. This led to better gigs, including her first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1986.
Though DeGeneres's early forays into series television were not successful (she appeared as a supporting player in two short-lived TV situation comedies in the period 1989-92, Open House (1989) and Laurie Hill (1992)), she scored a hit headlining her own 1994 sitcom on ABC "These Friends of Mine" (renamed Ellen (1994) after its first season). She made TV history in April 1997, when her character, and DeGeneres personally, revealed that she was a lesbian. However, the show was canceled the following season due to declining ratings, after which DeGeneres returned to the stand-up circuit. In 2001, DeGeneres launched a new series, The Ellen Show (2001), on CBS, but it suffered from poor ratings and was canceled.
Redemption as a television artist came in 2003, when DeGeneres's daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003), proved to be both a critical hit and a commercial success. Along with good ratings, the show has won unprecedented kudos from the industry, winning 15 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air and becoming the first talk show in TV history to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in its first three seasons.
DeGeneres has also made a name for herself as a host of awards shows. She hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1997, as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2001 and 2005. In February 2007, she had the ultimate TV awards show gig, hosting the Oscars, which she hosted again in 2014.Season 9- Composer
- Music Department
- Actress
Kara DioGuardi was introduced to America on seasons 8 and 9 of the hit FOX show, American Idol (2002) and was also featured as the head judge on Bravo's songwriting reality show competition, Platinum Hit (2011). Additionally, Kara starred in her Broadway stage debut as merry murderess "Roxie Hart" in the Tony Award-winning hit musical, "Chicago".
As one of the most successful contemporary songwriters and music executives in the world, Kara's songs have appeared on more than 160 million albums, she's had 314 songs released by major labels, and enjoyed over 50 charting singles and 150 songs on platinum-selling albums. Her credits include successes and collaborations with artists such as Pink, Katy Perry, Céline Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, Enrique Iglesias, Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and many more.
Kara is also an established record producer, record executive, music publisher and author. As Executive Vice President at Warner Brothers Records, Kara has signed artists like Jason Derulo and Iyaz. Her publishing company, "Arthouse Entertainment", boasts hits from Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, CeeLo Green, Eminem, B.O.B., Travie McCoy, Flo Rida, Whitney Houston and Sean Kingston. She also self-penned the HarperCollins book, "A Helluva High Note: Surviving Life, Love and American Idol". Kara is an active supporter of, and builds recording studios at Phoenix House, one of the nation's leading non-profits dedicated to leading individuals, families and communities, affected by addiction, from disrupted to productive lives.Season 8 & 9- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Steven Tyler was born on 26 March 1948 in Yonkers, New York, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Be Cool (2005), Wayne's World 2 (1993) and Epic (2013). He was previously married to Teresa Barrick and Cyrinda Foxe.Season 10 & 11- Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and television judge. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recording the hit singles "Easy", "Sail On", "Three Times a Lady" and "Still", with the group before his departure. In 1980, he wrote and produced the US Billboard Hot 100 number one single "Lady" for Kenny Rogers. The following year, he wrote and produced the single "Endless Love", which he recorded as a duet with Diana Ross; it remains among the top 20 bestselling singles of all time, and the biggest career hit for both artists. In 1982, he officially launched his solo career with the album Lionel Richie, which sold over four million copies and spawned the singles "You Are", "My Love", and the number one single "Truly".Season 16, 17 & 18- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Katy Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California to Mary Christine Hudson (née Perry) & Maurice Keith Hudson. She has a big sister named Angela & a little brother named David, and has English, Portuguese, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Her mother's half-brother was director Frank Perry.
Raised in a deeply religious family, Perry's first experience of performing was singing in church. A passion for music grew and at the age of 15, Perry began visiting Nashville, gaining experience of song writing and recording demos.
She signed to a Christian record label, Red Hill, and recorded an album, under her birth name of Katy Hudson. The album was not a success. At age 17 she moved to Los Angeles and collaborated with producer Glen Ballard, but was not able to secure a lasting record deal. Perry did sign to Columbia Records in 2004, but again this did not prove a success, and she was dropped.
An executive at Columbia recommended Perry to the chairman of Virgin Records, Jason Flom, which resulted in her signing for Capitol Music Group. She recorded her second album, "One of the Boys" and in the Spring of 2008 released the lead single, the controversial "I Kissed a Girl". The song proved a smash, hitting the number one slot in several countries. Other hit singles followed and the album was a commercial success.
Perry was now established as a pop superstar and cemented her position with the release of her next album "Teenage Dreams", which spawned more huge hits including "California Gurls" and "Firework". Many awards and music industry records followed. In 2012 Perry made the move into movies, releasing the documentary feature film Part of Me (2012).
Katy has started her own record label called "Metamorphosis Music" and has signed her very first artist Ferras, who was signed to Capitol Records back in 2007 with Katy Perry. He had released an EP the same day that the record label news was released to the public. There is also a duet with Katy on his new EP; they are expected to be on tour together in North America June 22 in Raleigh, North Carolina-October 11 in Houston, Texas.Seasons 16, 17 & 18- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
From his early days in Nashville as a songwriter to his current status as one of country music's reigning superstars, Luke Bryan's career has been populated by songs that have had a lasting impact. Country Aircheck declared him the Most Heard Artist of the Last Decade, an honor he earned with such No. 1 hits as "Rain is a Good Thing," "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye," "Crash My Party," "That's My Kind of Night," "Strip it Down," "Most People Are Good," "Fast," "One Margarita," "Down To One" and many more. Hailing from Leesburg, Georgia, the American Idol judge has been named Entertainer of the Year five times, with three wins by the Academy of Country Music and two wins by the Country Music Association. Luke has been named as a CMT Artist of the Year six times. He's won over 40 major music awards and has performed for nearly 12 million fans in the last decade while headlining seven major tours, including 36 stadium concerts, 11 Farm Tours, six years of Spring Break shows and six sold-out Crash My Playa events. Since his debut, Bryan has amassed 26 No. 1 hits and more RIAA certified digital singles than any other country artist with 68.5 million. Bryan has sold 12.5 million albums and scored 15.6 billion streams. At the close of 2019, Bryan became the first-ever recipient of the ACM Album of the Decade Award for his 2013 Crash My Party album and was also named the Most Heard Artist of the Decade by Country Aircheck. Bryan was most recently named Billboard's Top Country Artist of the 2010s. Based on their charts, he ranks at the top by placing 11 #1s on the weekly Hot Country Songs chart and nine #1s on the Top Country Albums chart during the last decade. This year, the Country Radio Broadcasters honored Bryan as the 2021 Artist Humanitarian Award recipient for his ongoing philanthropic endeavors.Season 16, 17 & 18- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Keith was born in Whangarei, NI, New Zealand. His parents moved when Keith was 2, to Queensland in Australia. Where he grew up. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1992. Keith became a naturalized American citizen several years ago and voted in the 2016 Presidential election. Keith was inducted into the Opry in April 2012 and into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in October 2023.Seasons 12, 13, 14 & 15- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Randy Jackson was born on 23 June 1956 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), Cool Runnings (1993) and American Idol (2002). He was previously married to Erika Jackson and Elizabeth.Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12- Music Artist
- Producer
- Actress
Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969 in The Bronx, New York City, New York to teacher Lupe López and computer specialist David López. The two Puerto Ricans were brought to the continental United States during their childhoods and eventually met while living in New York City. Their daughters would have a stable, middle-class upbringing.
Jennifer always dreamed of being a multi-tasking superstar. As a child, she enjoyed a variety of musical genres, mainly Afro-Caribbean rhythms like salsa, merengue, and bachata, and mainstream music like pop, hip-hop, and R&B. Although she loved music, the film industry also intrigued her. Her biggest influence was the Rita Moreno musical, West Side Story (1961). At 5, Jennifer began taking singing and dancing lessons. Aside from being a budding entertainer, Jennifer was also a Catholic schoolgirl, attending eight years at a Catholic elementary school named Holy Family, located in The Bronx, before graduating from all-girls prep school Preston High School after a four-year stay. At school, Jennifer was an amazing athlete and participated in track and field and tennis. She spent most of her upbringing in a two-story house in the Castle Hill neighborhood.
At 18, Jennifer moved out of her parents' home. After high school, she briefly worked in a law office and took dance classes at night. During this time, she continued dance classes at night. Her big break came when she was offered a job as a fly girl on Fox's hit comedy In Living Color (1990). After a two-year stay at In Living Color (1990) where actress Rosie Perez served as choreographer, Lopez then went on to dance for famed singer-actress Janet Jackson. Her first major film was Gregory Nava's My Family/Mi familia (1995), and her career went into overdrive when she portrayed late Tejana singer Selena in Selena (1997).Seasons 10, 11, 13, 14 & 15- Actor
- Music Department
- Producer
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the son of Anita Frances (Levy), a lawyer and judge, and Harry Connick, Sr. (Joseph Harry Fowler Connick), who served as District Attorney of New Orleans from 1973 to 2003. His father is of Irish, English, and German ancestry, and his maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Vienna, Austria and Minsk, Belarus. Harry, Jr.'s mother died of ovarian cancer when he was 13.
His parents owned a record store and encouraged their son's interest in music - piano at age three, with a New Orleans jazz band aged ten. He won piano competitions while playing French Quarter clubs and attending the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. At eighteen, he studied at New York's Hunter College and later on at the Manhatan School of Music. At nineteen, he released his first album for Columbia Records and began an extended run performing at the Algonquin's Oak Room, followed a year later by his second album. He wrote the score and sang several songs for Rob Reiner's When Harry Met Sally... (1989), the soundtrack for which went multi-platinum. So far, while bringing back swing and big band music, he has earned one gold, four platinum and three multi-platinum albums, plus two Grammies. His film acting debut was as B-17 tail-gunner Clay Busby in Memphis Belle (1990). He played mass-murderer Daryll Lee Cullum in the Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter film Copycat (1995) and Captain Jimmy Wilder ("Let's kick the tires and light the fires, big daddy!") in Independence Day (1996).
Harry lives in Connecticut, is married to the former model Jill Goodacre, and has three daughters, Georgia Tatom, Sara Kate and Charlotte.Seasons 13, 14 & 15- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. She began taking dance lessons when she was eight. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was senior class president and head cheerleader. After graduating in 1980, she started college at Cal State-Northridge, majoring in TV and radio. After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, she became head cheerleader/choreographer after only a few months, eventually dropping out of college to dance and choreograph full-time. She was recruited by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first in a long list of videos and movies she would choreograph. She branched out into singing with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl", which had lackluster sales until the single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 and she has been a popular singer/dancer ever since, enhanced by her stint as a judge on the hit series American Idol (2002).Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8- Producer
- Music Department
- Writer
Simon Cowell was born in Lambeth, London and brought up in Elstree, Hertfordshire. He is the son of Julie Cowell (née Josie Dalglish), a ballet dancer, and Eric Selig Phillip Cowell, a music industry executive. Simon started his career in the music industry working in the mailroom at EMI Music Publishing. He worked as a record producer, talent scout and consultant within the music industry before becoming a judge on the hit British TV show Pop Idol (2001) and its U.S. counterpart, American Idol (2002). Cowell's scathing comments were famous during his 10 seasons as a judge on American Idol.Season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9