Kamath First MSU Idol Winner

Just as in the hit television show American Idol, audience members at the MSU Idol finals in the CSU Ballroom Thursday had a chance to vote for their favorite contestant, Namrata Kamath.

Eleven Idol hopefuls, who were selected for the Feb. 28 semifinal competition, competed once again for five prize-winning spots. The contestants were Kyle Struck, Amanda Puckett, Mary Borrell, Johnais Muse, Megan Munneke, Chelsea Larro, Katie Kelley, Patrick Kelleher, Kamath, Liz Dowd and Michael Rivers.

In the first round of the competition, each contestant sang a song of their choice in front of a panel of three judges, who critiqued them and offered suggestions. The judges were seasoned opera singer and MSU music professor Kimm Julian, Director of Student Development Kelly Meier and Joelle Maggert, president of IMPACT.

Online votes from boredboard.com after the semifinals accounted for 60 percent of each contestant’s score. Judges’ scores made up the other 40 percent. The total determined the top five singers: Borrell, Dowd, Kamath, Munneke and Rivers.

The finalists sang one more song, after which audience members were asked to vote for their favorite performance at one of the ballot booths set up in the ballroom. The final tally revealed the ranking of the top five.

Kamath received the first place prize of $400 and a chance to sing the national anthem at Saturday’s MSU men’s basketball playoff game.

She won with her rendition of LeeAnn Rimes’ “How Do I Live.” Kamath said her musical inspiration comes from her father, who lives in her home country of Dubai.

“It’s really, really nice,” Kamath said about becoming MSU’s first Idol.

The second place prize of $200 went to Borrell, who was accompanied on stage by two acoustic guitar players.

“It feels great,” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to get second place.”

Borrell said she was sick last week and was relieved to feel better in time for the competition. She said her singing inspirations are Stevie Wonder, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland and Aretha Franklin.

Rivers took third place and a prize of $100. The fourth-place prize of $50 and the fifth-place prize of two tickets to this spring’s Switchfoot concert went to Dowd and Munneke, respectively.

Dowd had laryngitis for the semifinals and was not able to sing, but said she may have won sympathy votes from the audience when she said on stage that her condition was “better than having an STD.”

Kelleher, a competitor in the original 11, said he loved performing in front of the audience.

“It’s one of the things that I enjoy doing,” he said, “getting up on stage and ‘rocking out.’”

Although Kelleher said he liked being part of the first MSU Idol, he said the event could use some improvements for next year.

“It seemed kind of thrown together,” he said. “It seemed rushed for the people involved in it.”

Audience member Christopher Frederick said the voting process was confusing.

“It was unclear how people would be selected,” he said.

Flipside committee chair Priyanka Nepal, who helped coordinate MSU Idol, said she feels the finals, which drew in 600-650 spectators, was a success.

Stevie Ray was the “Ryan Seacrest” of the event, introducing singers and entertaining the audience in between acts. In comparison to the real Idol host, Ray said, “I’m funnier, but not as good looking.”

“[The] audience loved our emcee,” she said. “And we got a lot of positive feedback and suggestions. The event went very smoothly.”

Nepal is gathering feedback from people involved in the program, which will help determine what changes, if any, need to be made in the future.

Junior Angie VanEman, who attended the show, said it was better than she expected, although she would have liked to see more male contestants. VanEman said the host helped keep the program flowing.

“He did a great job of filling some of the dead time,” she said.