Rummaging through the archives of You Tube was what I did for the past couple of days shunning sunlight. That’s what you do when your face was Hell Boy-red.

I missed the first three seasons of American Idol which left me basically clueless about Kelly, Reuben and Fantasia. Together with the rest of big winners, it’s interesting to see how they all started by watching their audition videos. I think one thing they had in common was they already knew they would make it big time.

Kelly Clarkson, Season 1 winner, was the first Idol to win two Grammy Awards in 2006 for her album “Breakaway”.

Season 2 winner and Grammy nominee Reuben Studdard won by a close margin of 134k votes against runner-up Clay Aiken.

Eight-time Grammy Award nominee Fantasia Barrino was the youngest Idol winner at 19 until Jordin Sparks.

Country singer and Martina McBride fan Carrie Underwood has a string of big wins after her AI experience.

Despite his AI success, Taylor Hicks didn’t do well in selling his post American Idol album. But we really can’t tell what the future has for him, right?

Jordin Sparks was the youngest contestant to win American Idol at 16. Her records has been popular among the younger crowd. Long way to go.

Season 7 winner David Cook is a big Daughtry fan and has been known for his out-of-the-box takes on popular songs during his AI days that wowed millions.

By the way, it’s going to be a long weekend this week. I hope everyone enjoys it the way people vacationing at Outer Banks do.