Singing Up A Storm

Archuleta, the 17-year-old son of Jeff Archuleta, owner of Utah solution provider Arch Consulting Group, garnered some 43 million votes but finished behind rocker David Cook, who was named this year's "American Idol."

Archuleta was the presumed favorite going into the voting last Tuesday night, as judge Simon Cowell declared that Archuleta had won the evening's competition. Still, Cook's fans rallied to generate some 12 million more votes—out of the 97.5 million cast—than Archuleta.

It's not the end of the road for Archuleta, though, who will join David Cook and the other eight "American Idol" top 10 contestants on the road this summer for a live concert series.

A favorite of young fans in the competition week after week, Archuleta also faced some harsh criticism in the blogosphere for his on-stage shyness and his tendency to say "Gosh" a lot. But it was David Archuleta's father, Jeff Archuleta, who garnered the lion's share of publicity.

Jeff Archuleta, who has taken time off from his solution provider business in Utah to be with his son during the competition, was frequently the subject of "stage dad from hell" stories in both the mainstream press and the Hollywood gossip trades.

"American Idol" doesn't allow contestants or family members to speak to us about the show, but Arch Consulting employees said they didn't believe the rumors about Jeff. "David is young and Jeff is a very caring father, so I believe that Jeff was there watching out for him," said one employee. "But I don't believe the evil stage dad rumors at all. Jeff and David are very close."

While David Archuleta remained in the competition, Jeff Archuleta stayed with him in Los Angeles and kept in touch with his employees via phone and e-mail, Arch Consulting employees said. Jeff is still involved in the business, but he turned the day-to-day operations over to staff while the competition was going on, they said.

Has the son's fame resulted in any residuals for Arch Consulting? "We have had some phone calls about it, but it hasn't really changed the business," one employee said. "Mostly customers already know what's going on and call to wish David well."

So do we. Good luck to both Jeff and David.

Did you get caught up in "American idol" mania?
E-mail me at [email protected].