By DEBORAH STARR SEIBEL
Last updated: 8:02 pm
January 9, 2009
Posted: 12:00 am
January 11, 2009
When Kara DioGuardi first sat down with the judges at "American Idol," she thought, "Oh, God. Don't let me faint. I was like one of the contestants. That nervous."
DioGuardi, by all accounts, has the expertise to share the panel with television's most recognizable judges. As a producer, songwriter and singer, her name appears in the fine print on more than 100 albums. She's worked with Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion and Faith Hill. She already knew Randy Jackson from running into him at recording studios. And she'd actually co-wrote a Kylie Minogue hit, "Spinning Around," with Paula Abdul.
It didn't even help that she's done the TV judging thing once before. In 2006, DioGuardi was one of the judges on ABC's calamitous "The One: Making A Music Star," an "Idol" wannabe that folded in two short weeks. "Going from 'The One' to this is like going from a high school play to Broadway," says the New Rochelle native, daughter of former U.S. Republican Rep. Joseph DioGuardi. "We're playing in front of 25 million people."The "Idol" producers threw her in the deep end of the pool. Without as much as a meet-and-greet with the other judges, DioGuardi, 38, reported for duty last July in San Francisco on day one of the show's eight-city, cross-country auditions. "I walked in and there were maybe 40, 50, 60 crew members, all these lights, and 'American Idol' things hanging everywhere," she says. "I thought, 'Where do I sit? When do I speak? How is this gonna work?'"
And then there was Simon. In the past, "Idol"'s king of sarcasm did not hide his contempt for celebrity guest judges - or anyone else who would alter the chemistry of the three-person team. Cowell tries to sound congenial when discussing the addition of DioGuardi to the panel, but to him, the jury is still out. Did he want her there?
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