As Headline Planet first indicated was the plan back in May, “American Idol” third-place finisher Haley Reinhart has inked a record deal. “Toldja!”
Reinhart has been signed to 19 Entertainment and Interscope Records and will release her album on the latter, which falls under the umbrella run by “Idol” mentor Jimmy Iovine.
The confirmed deal puts the soulful singer, who received the most judge standing ovations of any contestant this season, in the same club as winner Scotty McCreery, runner-up Lauren Alaina and ninth-place finisher Pia Toscano–all scored major-label recording contracts this summer.
Thus far, decent success for Scotty McCreery’s post-show single “I Love You This Big” and EP suggests he can deliver on the charts with the right music. Toscano, however, failed to launch with her debut single “This Time,” so it is not a lock that contestants from even a well-reviewed season of “American Idol” can sell in 2011.
Though not quite so popular when first profiled in the audition and Hollywood phases of the “Idol” competition, Reinhart established herself as a credible contender with an impressive version of “Bennie and the Jets.”
Still, it was actually not until viewers and critics started to sense “anti-Haley bias” on the part of the judges that Reinhart garnered a rabid fanbase and the power to come within striking distance of the “Idol” crown.