American Idol's Lee DeWyze & Crystal Bowersox Fail to Climb the Billboard Charts

This season’s American Idol champ Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox failed to achieve much Billboard success with their debut singles.

Of the three DeWyze cuts to debut this week, his most successful is “Beautiful Day” at No. 24. Bowersox’s “Up To the Mountain” only managed to climb to No. 57.

Combined, they debuted five songs, an underwhelming showing considering the finale was last week.

Last season, Kris Allen and Adam Lambert combined for nine chart entries the week after AI‘s finale.

Idol's Top 10 Get Their Game On for Summer Tour

While American Idol winner Lee DeWyze and runner-up Crystal Bowersox bask in Season Nine’s finale afterglow, the remaining Top Eight Idols are enjoying a breather before a 51-city American Idols Live! Tour, which kicks off in Auburn Hills, Michigan, July 1st.

At a celebratory dinner at Gordon Ramsay at the London in West Hollywood, People Magazine joined Didi Benami, Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, Tim Urban, Siobhan Magnus, Aaron Kelly, Michael Lynche and Casey James to talk about the three-month road trip.

“Seeing America is going to be amazing,” says Lynche. “It’s going to be cool to see everybody’s hometown and I hope we have a chance to go see somebody’s haunts.” Adds Benami, “And seeing all of the people who have been supporting us the whole time. I am really looking forward to playing for all the fans that voted and getting the reaction we didn’t get in the studio.”

On a technical point, James says, “I’m looking forward to playing full songs! That’s really exciting for me because chopping songs into one and a half minutes takes the soul out of the songs.”

As for how they will occupy their downtime while on the road, Stevens says, “I offer Mad Libs!” Magnus has a bunch of DVDs, including the Are You Afraid of the Dark? series, one that she and Garcia bonded over. Benami will bring along her notebook and James will try to pare down the nine guitars he used throughout the Idol series to perhaps “six or seven” for the road.

Kelly says he will offer “Yoda wisdom,” but Lynche jokes, “Now that’s the Red Bull talking!” Lynche says, “I love to play road trip games like Six Degrees of Separation, naming all the states.” Benami asks how Six Degrees is played, and Lynche explains how you can take the names of two people within a genre, like movies, and then try to connect them within six places.

On the spot, James says, “Let’s do it!” And Lynche says, “Tom Cruise and Susan Sarandon, six steps or less.” Magnus says, “Well, Susan Sarandon was in Stepmom with Julia Roberts, and Julia Roberts has been in so much.” Lynche says, “Well Tom Cruise, what’s a big one he’s been in,” and Stevens says, “Jerry Maguire.” Lynche goes, “So who else is in that? Renee Zellweger. Renee…” And Magnus picks it up from there, “Renee Zellweger was in Bridget Jones’ Diary with Hugh Grant, who was in Notting Hill with Julia Roberts. Done!”

With recreation in hand, the next thing to settle are sleeping arrangements. “I’m looking forward to not listening to Big Mike snore on the bus,” Magnus says. James notes mock-solemnly, “That’s an issue.” The room erupts into laughter as Lynche blames congestion he got early on in the Top 24 to his fellow Idols’ penchants for setting the air conditioner at a really cold temperature. Then Garcia reveals that the first time he met James, who had gotten to the hotel room before Garcia, “he was just in a robe, and that was it. I thought, what is going on? I see this blond, golden hair…” James plays along. “I had the lighting just right!” Garcia volleys with, “A movie was playing…”

By this point, tears are streaming around the table and the laughter is contagious. “Oh, boy,” Lynche says. “This will be fun!”

Crystal Bowersox & Boyfriend Split Before Idol Finale

When Crystal Bowersox belted out a moving rendition of Patty Griffin‘s “Up to the Mountain” on the first night of the American Idol finale, the singer drew from her own raw emotions after what she says was a “hard morning.”

“[My boyfriend] Tony, he went home. He wasn’t cool with the lifestyle,” the Elliston, Ohio, native revealed Thursday morning on Ryan Seacrest‘s 102.7 KIIS-FM radio show.

The decision to break up just hours before the final performance night, Bowersox says, was completely mutual.

“We’re both logical, grown adults,” she said. “He’s a small town guy and it’s fine. But I’m a small town girl but I want this. I want this more than anything — this career, this lifestyle. I didn’t think he was up for it. He didn’t think he was up for it.”

Her boyfriend, Tony Kusian, 26, spoke with PEOPLE during Crystal’s hometown visit about life in Los Angeles, where Idol is produced. “It’s kind of tough at times but you get used to it and we’re all happy. Some days are more fun than others,” he said. “But it’s been hard to find friends out there. I want to keep it low key. I don’t need the attention.”
Though she’s “a little sad” they parted ways on one of the most pivotal moments of her Idol journey, Bowersox has no hard feelings. “He’s been amazing,” she says. “He stuck it out through this whole thing.”

Already a veteran in the business, judge Kara DioGuardi, who appeared with Bowersox on the radio show, offered some advice to the runner-up. “You have to do your music,” she her. “It’s not a choice for you. It’s what makes you whole. If somebody can’t hang with that — I’m sure he’s a lovely guy but right now this is your dream.”

And while she’s disappointed about the breakup, the even-keeled singer says she isn’t mad. In fact, she says, “We’re going to be friends for a long time.”

Who's This Year's American Idol? Crystal or Lee? We've Got Your Results!

After performing three songs each on Tuesday night, Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze participated in Idol‘s grand finale Wednesday, paying tribute to Simon Cowell on his last night on the show before finding out which one was the season 9 winner.

While Lee went into the final night of performances as a favorite, Crystal was the judges’ choice for all three rounds of songs.

But who did America vote for?

Lee DeWyze!

Even though his Tuesday-night performances weren’t as consistent or powerful as Crystal’s, the judges repeatedly remarked on an inching-forward that made Lee someone worth rooting for. Audiences saw that, too.

That just wasn’t quite the case with Crystal, who to her credit had a very good voice and a grounded stage personality.

Overall, as many frustrated fans of the show have already noted, it wasn’t a great season. The suspense of the title contest barely even heated up until the last few minutes of the show Wednesday night. (Ryan Seacrest said the voting had been tight leading up to the finale, but he made no allusion to how big a gap separated Lee and Crystal at the end.) What if it’d been, say, Siobhan Magnus versus Casey James?

Instead, the season’s musical highpoint was arguably Gen. Larry Platt‘s “Pants on the Ground.” Unfortunately, his performance of it Wednesday night was spoiled with the arrival of William Hung, who’s stuck in the unhappy role of Idol jester.

The night mattered chiefly as a farewell to Simon Cowell, kingpin of the judges’ panel. The finale repeatedly paused to salute him, and rightly so. A good deal of the celebration was tongue-in-cheek, tweaking him for his acerbic opinions, his rudeness and so on. Dane Cook sang a small song with lyrics extracted from Simon’s insults — a sort of miniature roastIt was so awful you wished thought balloons would appear above Simon’s head, full of toxic comments. Plus a "Kayne" moment occured during Dane's performance with Idol reject, Ian Bernando, hijacked the microphone and starting to "rap" that he was going to be Simon's replacement. NOT!

Finally, though, Paula Abdul was brought onstage — looking absolutely fantastic — and spoke of Simon with humor and affection. “American Idol’s not going to be the same without you … but it will go on,” she said, alluding as well to her own departure from the show. It was great to see Paula back on Idol, though it was short lived.

Then most of former winners (Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks and Kris Allen) came out singing, with the exception of David Cook who had a prior charity engagement, and it was all much more genuinely sentimental than you or Simon would ever have expected. “You guys are the judge of this show,” he said to the audience after Ryan called him onto the stage, “and you’ve done an incredible job.”

The guest artist who performed last night with the season 9 finalists included Chicago, Joe Cocker, Bret Michaels, Alanis Morissette, Christina Aguilera (with an incredible performance), Hall & Oates, the return of Barry & Robin Gibb (without their beloved brother Maurice Gibb) and beautiful Janet Jackson.

Over all it was great night, but not one of the best Idol's finale.

Congratulations to Lee DeWyze for a well deserving win!

Simon Cowell Predicts Who WIll Win Idol Tonight!

It’s down to the final two on American Idol, and the way Simon Cowell sees it, the dark horse has become the front-runner for the season-nine crown.

“If you’d asked me five or six weeks ago, 100 percent I would have said Crystal [Bowersox]. But now I’ve changed my mind. I think Lee [DeWyze] is going to win,” Cowell tells fellow judge Ellen DeGeneres in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Like many viewers across the country, Cowell, 50, is captivated by DeWyze’s story. “He’s worked in a paint shop,” he says. “He’s talented. He hasn’t had any real breaks in life, and this has given him a shot, and I like that.”

DeWyze and Bowersox, both 24, gave their final performances Tuesday night, with the finale set for tonight. That will also be Cowell’s last show after nine seasons on the FOX talent show. He has said he’s been bored lately, but now he says it’s bittersweet to be leaving.

“I am feeling a bit sad because we’re nearly there. But at the same time, do you remember that last three weeks when you were leaving school, and you kind of couldn’t wait to get out? It’s a little bit like that,” he says. “I’m not being ungrateful. I’ve had a fantastic time, and the show changed my life, but I just kind of knew it was time to do something different.”

DeGeneres tells Cowell she had “no idea” how much she would end up liking Cowell. He returns the compliment, and then clears up a lingering issue between them — that he announced he was leaving on Ellen’s first day on the show.

“I do actually feel guilty about that,” he says. “Two hours before your starting, I held a press conference to say, by the way, I’m leaving. Nice way for you to start.”

DeGeneres replies: “It was an interesting way to start, but you know, things happened the way they happened, and I really have enjoyed my time.”

“So have I,” says Cowell.

Idol Picks Its Top 2!

After playing songs of their choice as well as songs picked by the judges, Idol‘s top 3 — Lee DeWyze, Crystal Bowersox and Casey James — faced the final elimination before next week’s season 9 finale.

...and Kara DioGuardi was right! (based on a recent interview where she predicted the final two.)

Crystal and Lee will face off in the finale — and Casey is out.

As Wednesday’s results hour ended, Lee was the first singer declared by Ryan to be safe. Then, without trying to tease out any suspense from the moment, Ryan said Crystal would be with him. “I’m safe?” she asked, incredulous, before running over and hugging Lee.

So it’ll be Lee or Crystal, and definitely not Casey, the guy who combined a cowboy lankiness and a cheerful, surfer-dude unflappability.

It probably wouldn’t have mattered if he’d been informed that he’d be the first living person to record a duet with the ghost of Elvis or that he’d be spending the rest of the year recording backup tracks for Kris Allen in a studio on a prison ship. He would have nodded and smiled.

This has, in fact, been the season of laid-back Idol.

At the start of the show the three of them sat there, looking astoundingly cool under the circumstances, and resolutely unwilling (or unable) to put on a dog-and-pony act of burbling excitement as Ryan tried to probe their emotions.

It was good, though, to know that Crystal’s diabetes has been getting better treatment than ever, being on the show. And the footage of their home visits was very touching: They were all humbled by their success and the kind wishes of the fans.

There were two guest performers who were much closer to the Idol type. Travis Garland is a choreographed, shiny pop package. If this were Glee, he would have been revealed to be the lost descendent of Judy! Justin Bieber sang, too — a very slick talent projecting outward from somewhere inside what looks like a natural American teenager.

Watch next Tuesday and Wednesday night for the two part finale of American Idol 9 on FOX. Plus, Simon Cowell will be leaving next week. Let's see what that Idol producers have in store for his send-off.

American Idol Final Four Face-Off Tonight!

American Idol is heading into the final weeks with early front-runner Crystal Bowersox squaring off against a trio of guys: Lee DeWyze, Michael Lynche and Casey James.

Tonight’s competition is crucial and the pressure is on. But this talented quartet tells TVGuide they remain thick as thieves:

You guys have had plenty of time to bond, but where’s the fine line between camaraderie and competition? Clearly, you each want to win this.

Casey James: We’re not competing with each other. Everybody’s so different. It’s like apples and oranges, one’s not the other. Each one of us has our own sound and people that are voting for Mike aren’t gonna vote for me or for Crystal. It’s not like that. It’s not like I’m setting out to beat them. I’m just setting out to do what I do, and hopefully do it well enough that it’s accepted and appreciated in a manner that people are gonna vote for you. Really, one has nothing to do with the other. You’re just gonna try and do the best you can do so that doesn’t bother me, personally, at all.

Lee DeWyze: I do think that there is somewhat of a line. We’re all friends and that’s not gonna change anything. But as far as the show, at the end of the day all of us do want to win. That’s why we’re here. We all want that number one spot. But I don’t think that we look at it as ‘I wanna take it from Michael. Michael’s taking it from me,’ or ‘Crystal…’ It’s not like that. It’s more that we all want that number one spot for ourselves, not because we don’t want anyone else to win. If any one of these guys were to win, I’m sure we’d all be happy for each other. But at the end of the day we have to sit there and work on our songs, make them the best they can be, and do whatever we can to have the best performance on any given night. So us being friends isn’t gonna change. We all want to win, but that doesn’t change how we feel about each other.

Crystal Bowersox: We’re all definitely friends and then the line between friend and competitor is – I don’t know, for me, it doesn’t really exist.

Michael Lynche: Doesn’t exist.

I predict Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze will be the final two, and hopefully Lee will win this year's Idol. We'll have to stay tuned to see what happens.

Crystal Bowersox Almost Quit American Idol

In a shocking turn of events, we have learned that Crystal Bowersox nearly quit the hit FOX reality show American Idol two weeks ago. If not for some fast talking by show host Ryan Seacrest, she may well have headed home to her family.

TMZ has learned that in the parking lot following the AI show two weeks ago, the talented Bowersox remarked that she couldn’t handle the competition, hated the attention and asked Seacrest, “What’s the point?” Several witnesses overheard the exchange and report that she said she missed her family in Ohio terribly and wanted to go home.

Seacrest told her that being on the show was like starting a business that could well earn her a recording contract and help her to become a millionaire. He brought the message home by saying, “The greatest thing I ever did was make enough money so I could buy my mom a house.” That comment apparently resonated with the talented young woman because she is still in it to win it. Go Crystal!

Crystal has been the strongest performer this season and has a real shot at becoming the next American Idol.

In early March, Crystal was hospitalized for a serious medical condition