**TIME PERIOD PREMIERE**

—“AMERICAN IDOL”—(8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) CC-HDTV 720p-In Stereo

THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT SUPERSTAR CONTINUES WITH AUDITIONS FROM CHICAGO ON “AMERICAN IDOL” TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, ON FOX

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The judges continue their quest to find the next singing superstar in the “Windy City.” Guest Judge Shania Twain is on hand to help out. Don’t miss the auditions everyone will be talking about the next day when the “Auditions #3: Chicago” episode of AMERICAN IDOL airs Tuesday, Jan. 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

Shania is a Canadian country pop singer. Her third album Come on Over is the best-selling album of all time by a female musician and the best-selling album in the history of country music. She is the only female musician to have three albums certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. She has achieved both critical and financial success, having received five Grammy awards, 27 BMI Songwriter awards, and she has sold over 65 million albums worldwide to date, including 48 million in the USA alone. She is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen Soundscan era, with approximately 33,591,000 sales through April 5 2008, based on relatively few releases.

Last week in Foxborough, Massachusetts Victoria Beckham was guest judge and 31 tickets to Hollywood were given out. During the Atlanta auditions Mary J. Blige was guest judge and 25 tickets to Hollywood were awarded.

During the Atlanta auditions, 62-year-old activist ‘General’ Larry Platt appeared and performed his own original song, “Pants on the Ground.” Platt was ineligible to continue, due to the show’s age limit of 28 years old. However, his performance became a viral hit, and several celebrities performed the song in the days that followed Wednesday’s airing of American Idol, including Jimmy Fallon impersonating Neil Young on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Brett Favre singing it in the locker room after beating the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs. Platt himself also made an appearance on ABC Television’s The View on January 18, 2010, performing the song in its entirety.

Platt was actually not a Army General, but rather a civil rights activist in Atlanta. The nickname “General” was given to him by Hosea Williams because of his heroic efforts on behalf of the civil rights movement. In fact, the Georgia General Assembly designated September 4, 2001, as, “Larry Platt Day”, for his, “priceless and immeasurable contributions to society”, as well as, “his great energy and commitment to equality and the protection of the innocent and for his outstanding service to the Atlanta community and the citizens of Georgia.

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