From the moment Elliot Yamin set foot in his American Idol audition, it was clear that he was on a mission. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting my whole life for a shot like this,\u201d he grinned in his pre-audition interview. Five years, two holiday records, and three full length solo albums later, Yamin has taken full advantage of his opportunity\u2014 and along the way, treated countless audiences to his soulful rendition of Donny Hathaway\u2019s, \u201cSong For You.\u201d But there\u2019s more to Yamin that his Idol experience. Not only has he co-written and co-produced his latest release, extensively toured Japan, and impressed audiences across the globe, but he\u2019s also helped raise money for diabetes research. Yamin is as charming as he sounds, and I got the chance to ask him some of my (and my mother\u2019s) burning questions. Turns out he also has a great sense of humor to boot!<\/p>\n
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CP: <\/strong>I know your latest release was an album called Gather \u2018Round that was exclusively released in Japan. Tell me about the record. Will we ever see it stateside?<\/em><\/p>\n EY:<\/strong> Yeah, we put the record out in February of this year over there because that\u2019s where we had a firm licensing deal. It\u2019s really a soulful, really classic album. I\u2019m really proud of it. It was the first album where I co-wrote and co-produced almost every track on it, and it really just clicked. I think we made a pretty timeless record. We\u2019re looking to get it out here in the US in 2012. Right now I think we\u2019re looking at a single in January and then the full album in March.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Sounds great! Any other releases coming up in Japan?<\/em><\/p>\n EY: <\/strong>You know, there actually is one there slated for March. I know this is going to sound a little overzealous, but it\u2019s actually going to be a \u201cBest of\u201d record coming out over there. I\u2019m not super crazy about that given that I\u2019ve only got three records out, but they were into it, so I\u2019m just going with it. <\/em><\/p>\n \n CP:<\/strong> I guess you can actually say you\u2019re big in Japan.<\/em><\/p>\n EY: (Laughs) Right! Who sang that song? <\/em>[Alphaville!] <\/em>I guess you could say that. Music is the universal language, so it\u2019s cool to see where it catches on. Fortunately for me, Japan has been a really great market. Thank God for Japan, you know?<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Absolutely. What or who inspires and influences your music? EY:<\/strong> I actually get inspired pretty easily. I guess I\u2019d have to say that my first inspiration was my mom. She was a singer, and was really my earliest influence. She always played great music in our house, Stevie (Wonder), Otis Redding, Paul Anka, Donnie Hathaway. She played all of those records. Donnie Hathaway, that\u2019s a huge influence for me. I guess overall though, I really draw my inspiration from other people. You know, I don\u2019t really write songs on my own, I mostly co-write. That\u2019s the best part about co-writing. You get to be inspired by the writers you work with and what has happened in their lives.<\/em><\/p>\n [This is the part where I have absolutely zero clue what I asked Elliott because we just started chatting, but he said one of the most heartfelt things about his music, and I had to include it!]<\/em><\/p>\n EY:<\/strong> There\u2019s no right or wrong way to write. I always try to be as honest as possible, and not just with the lyrics, but with the emotion and feel of the music. That\u2019s something I really had to learn. It\u2019s one thing to sing a song well, but it\u2019s a whole other thing to convey what you\u2019re actually saying. That was a big thing I had to learn, especially from the show.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Since you brought it up, I\u2019m going to go there. I know some past American Idol contestants have considered the show to be their albatross, and they can\u2019t escape being that guy from Idol. What are your feelings on the show?<\/em><\/p>\n EY: <\/strong>You know, I really see two sides. I know some people are striving to be something different after the show, and I get that, but I\u2019m really grateful for the show. I mean look, you and I wouldn\u2019t be talking today if not for that show. I do feel like I\u2019ve grown leaps and bounds since I\u2019ve done the show, and I\u2019ve found my voice, but I\u2019m totally fine with being synonymous with Idol. I feel immense gratitude and really feel indebted to them. You know, I never signed with their management or anything, but they\u2019ve still been so supportive of everything I\u2019ve ever done. They\u2019ve opened so many doors for me that I never thought would be possible both in and outside of music.<\/em><\/p>\n CP:<\/strong> Speaking of things you\u2019ve been up to outside of music, I know you do some work with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Tell me a little bit about that.<\/em><\/p>\n EY: <\/strong>That has been really amazing, and it\u2019s again, something that never would\u2019ve been possible without Idol. When you do the show, they put you through media training, and you learn how to talk to the press. I just made a conscious decision to use those skills and talk about diabetes. It\u2019s something that runs in my family. My mom has it, my grandmother has it, and let\u2019s face it, diabetes sucks! I really wanted to use my experience on the show as a platform to talk about my struggles with diabetes and lend a voice to it. It\u2019s important to me. I\u2019m invested in it. The experience has been amazing. If you had told me before the show that I\u2019d be speaking at congress or going to Capitol Hill to lobby for medical bills to fund diabetes research, I wouldn\u2019t have believed it. It\u2019s been an amazing experience, and I love dedicating my time to finding a cure.<\/em><\/p>\n CP: <\/strong>Sounds like you\u2019ve had a lot on your plate. <\/em><\/p>\n \n EY: <\/strong>Yeah, but it\u2019s been great. You can\u2019t ask for more.<\/em><\/p>\n CP: <\/strong>Tell me a little about what our audience can look forward to at your show.<\/em><\/p>\n EY: <\/strong>It\u2019s going to be fun. Expect tons of energy, and really great musicianship. This band is tight. There will also be a good deal of new music involved, so it should be really fun. Come vibe with us!<\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss Elliott Yamin on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 here at Anthology! Also be sure to check out our Spotify playlist of some of our favorite tunes of his. Consider it the Anthology version of the \u201cBest of\u201d album!<\/p>\n \n \n Elliott Yamin<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT: <\/em>Elliott Yamin<\/strong><\/em> An Interview with Elliott Yamin by: Casey Pukl From the moment Elliot Yamin set foot in his American Idol audition, it was clear that he was on a mission. \u201cI\u2019ve been waiting my whole life for a shot like this,\u201d he grinned in his pre-audition interview. Five years, two holiday records, and three full length […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1442],"tags":[11512],"class_list":["post-3847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artists","tag-artist-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32979,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3847\/revisions\/32979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Elliott](\"https:\/\/anthologysd.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/elliott_yamin_1.jpeg\" "\\"elliott_yamin_1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWHEN: <\/span>Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 7:30pm <\/strong><\/em>
\nTICKETS: $10-$32 <\/span>Buy Tickets<\/a><\/em>
\nMORE INFO: <\/span>Artist Profile<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"