Jason Castro (singer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.138.158.242 (talk) at 02:02, 8 May 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jason Castro

Jason René Castro (born March 25, 1987) is an American singer and was a finalist on the seventh season of the television series, American Idol. Voted off 5/7/08 after two dissapointing performances.

Early years

Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Rowlett, Texas,[1] he currently resides in Rockwall, Texas. He attended Vernon Schrade Middle School as a child.[2] His parents, René & Betsi Castro, are Colombian, and he is the first person in his family to be born in the United States, followed by younger siblings Michael & Jackie. Their father, René Castro, is a professional swimming pool builder.[3] Castro plays guitar and grew up playing drums. He did not begin singing until he was in college. Castro attended Rowlett High School and graduated in 2005. He was a member of the high school soccer team. Castro was a junior majoring in construction science at Texas A&M University before auditioning for American Idol. In November 2007, Castro was inducted into the Aggie Men's Club. AMC is an organization at Texas A&M. Castro first appeared on television as the love interest of Cheyenne Kimball on her MTV reality television show called Cheyenne[4].

Musical background

Castro performed as a drummer with the rock band Charlemagne,[5] which later became Keeping Lions. [6][7]

American Idol

Overview

Castro auditioned for American Idol in Dallas, Texas. He was not shown on the television series until the finals due to legal restrictions on the songs he chose to perform. [5] He has stated that his musical influences include Ray LaMontagne and Kirk Baxley.[8] He made some appearances on the MTV reality show Cheyenne[7] and was also featured in Cheyenne Kimball's music video "Hanging On".

He has been in the bottom 3 only once, with his rendition of "Fragile."

Reaction to "Hallelujah" performance

Castro's rendition of the song "Hallelujah" performed on American Idol -- combined with the judges' favorable comments -- propelled droves of viewers to the iTunes Store to download the Jeff Buckley cover of the Leonard Cohen song, which propelled it to the #1 spot on iTunes' singles chart. [citation needed] Buckley's version of the song sold 178,000 digital downloads in the week following Castro's performance, to debut at #1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. [citation needed] According to the March 22, 2008 issue of Billboard Magazine this was the highest boost in digital sales a song had ever received after being performed by a contestant on American Idol. [citation needed] It was the first time Buckley's version of the song charted on a Billboard chart, as well as the first U.S. number one song on any chart for Buckley, who died May 29, 1997 at age 30. Also, Castro's version briefly appeared in the number one spot on the iTunes chart before it was removed due to American Idol not wanting any contestant to be favored.

Performances and results (during voting weeks)

Week # Theme Song choice Original artist Order # Result
Top 24 (12 Men) 1960s "Daydream" The Lovin' Spoonful 11 Safe
Top 20 (10 Men) 1970s "I Just Want to Be Your Everything" Andy Gibb 2 Safe
Top 16 (8 Men) 1980s "Hallelujah" Leonard Cohen 7 Safe
Top 12 Lennon/McCartney "If I Fell" The Beatles 4 Safe
Top 11 The Beatles "Michelle" The Beatles 8 Safe
Top 10 Year They Were Born "Fragile" Sting 2 Bottom 31
Top 9 Dolly Parton "Travelin' Thru" Dolly Parton 4 Safe
Top 8 Inspirational Music "Over the Rainbow" Israel Kamakawiwo'ole 3 Safe
Top 7 Mariah Carey "I Don't Wanna Cry" Mariah Carey 7 Safe
Top 6 Andrew Lloyd Webber "Memory" Cats 2 Safe
Top 5 Neil Diamond "Forever in Blue Jeans"
"September Morn" 		Neil Diamond 1
6 		Safe
Top 4 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "I Shot the Sheriff"
"Mr. Tambourine Man" 		Bob Marley
Bob Dylan 		3
7 		Eliminated


Other recordings

After Castro's first appearance on Idol, previously recorded songs that he had written surfaced as well a few recorded live performances from the Prophet Bar and his church of Lake Pointe Church.[9]

Original songs:

  • "The Other Side"
  • "Someday" (featuring Jackie Castro)
  • "A Song About Stars"
  • "So Fast"
  • "I'm Not Who I Was" (Cover; originally performed by Brandon Heath)

Live Performances

References

  1. ^ Dinges, Gary (2008-02-13). "Five Texans make 'Idol's' top 24". Austin360. The Austin American-Statesman.
  2. ^ "Jason Castro". American Idol Official Web Site. FOX.
  3. ^ "Jason Castro: Aggies Are We Interview" (video). Aggies Are We. Daily Motion. 2008-02-18.
  4. ^ url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756431/
  5. ^ a b Atlas, Darla (2008-02-18). "'American Idol' hopeful from Rockwall has more hair-time than airtime". Dallas Morning News.
  6. ^ http://www.myspace.com/keepinglions
  7. ^ a b Philpot, Robert (2008-02-19). "The Latest 'Idol' Boasts North Texas Ties". Star-Telegram.
  8. ^ http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season7/jason_castro/
  9. ^ http://www.daydreamingboy.com/music.htm

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jason_Castro_(singer)&oldid=210944520"