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January 17, 2008

Local woman names hometown on 'American Idol'

By David Lazenby





After six full seasons of “American Idol,” each year’s season premiere of the program is predicable fare — appearances by a few good singers with heart-tugging life stories and a lot of bad ones with no business auditioning for the show.

However, area “Idol” viewers got a surprise in the first minute of the two-hour episode when local singer Traci Hite announced, “I’m from Cullman, Alabama.”

The appearance came during an introductory segment following Ryan Seacrest’s announcement the next American Idol could come from anywhere.

Traci was among six contestants who announced from where they hailed. Hite was joined by singers from as far away as Alaska and Bolivia.

Making Traci’s appearance more surprising was the lack of local audition sites.

Unlike the year before when Traci’s tryout place was merely an hour’s drive away to Birmingham, She had to drive to Atlanta and Charleston, S.C. where she auditioned for the show at both locations.

More than 33 million viewers tuned in for Tuesday’s 2008 debut of American Idol, the most popular program on U.S. television.

Hite, a 19-year-old Wallace State student, was not one of them.

The moment she was seen by millions of Americans, the singer was shopping with her mother, Neva, at Wal-Mart when she — and Cullman — had the brief moment in the spotlight.

“I missed it,” said Traci who found out about her appearance from Angela Young, her cousin from Clemson, S.C. who called to tell Traci about her on-camera cameo appearance.

“She was screaming,” Traci said. “It was exciting.”

Traci’s father, Hobson Hite, also missed the show. He was coaching a girls’ junior varsity basketball game at Fairview Middle School where he is a teacher.

Fortunately, Traci’s sister, Alicia, got a copy of the program with her digital video recorder.

“Luckily, my sister has Tivo,” Traci said.

At Charleston, Traci found the success that eluded her at earlier auditions. She reached the third of four rounds.

“I didn’t make it in front of Simon and Paula,” she said.

However, Traci did get to show off her vocal talents before Nigel Lythgoe, the “American Idol” producer who now is the executive producer of The Fox contest series, “So You Think You Can Dance?”

“There was 10,000 people there, and there was only 400 who made it to that round,” she said. “I felt honored.”

For those who think the area singer missed her moment of fame live, Traci has words for them.

The tenacious songstress is already setting the stage for next year’s auditions, even though she has no idea where they will be.

“I’m planning to go to a few places,” said the “Idol” hopeful.

During her auditions, Traci sang “Before he Cheats” by former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. She also belted out the country western staple “Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” a song she performed publicly when she first began singing in public at age 9.

“You have to kind of yodel in that one,” said Traci, the first alternate in the 2006 Miss Cullman County Fair Pageant.

Traci will be performing Saturday when she sings a 30-minute set of country music at the Cattlemen’s Association’s annual banquet, which will start at 5 p.m. at the Cullman Civic Center. The event is free to current association members and $10 for others.

Despite having only limited success so far, Traci said she encourages anyone with aspirations of stardom to try out for the show.

“It was a great experience,” she said. “You just have to have fun with it,” she said.

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