Anwar Robinson
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Anwar Farid Robinson (born April 21, 1979) is an American singer/songwriter/musician who was the 7th place finalist on the fourth season of American Idol.
Robinson grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He first started to sing when he was eight and was accepted to the Newark Boys' Chorus School. He later trained as a tenor in classical technique in college for about four years under Dr. Scott J. McCoy. He graduated in 2001 from Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey. Some time later, Robinson, who is also an accomplished pianist, became a junior high school music teacher, settling in Elizabeth, New Jersey and West Orange, New Jersey. Robinson was also a member of a local group called The Perfect Combination.
In one interview conducted after Robinson left the show, he condemned speculation about his personal life (including his sexuality). <ref>Pulse Weekly</ref> A personal ad issued by Robinson was discovered on a homosexual dating site. Robinson is openly gay and has been since high school.<ref>[1]"BlackPlanet.com indicates that Robinson's last login was January 1, 2005, before the contestants for the fourth season of American Idol were made public. No one knew at that time that the schoolteacher from East Orange, New Jersey would become one of the finalists on the popular Fox reality series, which makes it unlikely to be a fake profile set up by a fan (or detractor) of the popular singer. It also raises questions around why Robinson did not remove his profile once he was selected to be on the show, given the intense scrutiny he knew he was going to receive as a contestant on a show watched by over 20 million Americans each week...The most likely answer is that, despite rumblings that Fox prefers to keep AI's gay contestants closeted, at least during the competition (one finalist from Season 1, Jim Verraros, came out after the series ended), Robinson himself is not that closeted in real life. Sources tell us that the singer has been openly gay since high school, and even now does not go out of his way to hide his sexuality, which this personal ad would seem to confirm."</ref>
In 2004, Robinson successfully auditioned for American Idol in Washington, DC. He proceeded to the Top 12, but was voted off on April 20th, after his performance of Earth Wind and Fire's "September" during 1970s dance music week. Only six contestants remained after Robinson's departure.
He went on to tour with the Top 10 contestants of Season Four and sang for over 500,000 people in over 40 cities in the United States and Canada.
Robinson has completed an album of cover songs and is currently working on original material.
[edit] American Idol performances
- Top 24 - "Moon River"
- Top 20 - "What's Going On" (Marvin Gaye)
- Top 16 - "What a Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong)
- Top 12 (Songs of the 1960s) - "House Is Not a Home" (1964)
- Top 11 (Billboard #1 Hits) - "Ain't Nobody" (Chaka Khan, 1983) (the song charted at #22 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts)
- Top 10 (Songs of the 1990s) - "I Believe I Can Fly" (R. Kelly, 1996) (Bottom 3)
- Top 9 (Broadway musicals) - "If Ever I Would Leave You" (from the musical Camelot)
- Top 8 (Songs from year of birth) - "I'll Never Love This Way Again" (Dionne Warwick, 1979)
- Top 7 (1970s dance music) - "September" (Earth, Wind and Fire, 1978) (Bottom 3; voted off)
[edit] References
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