Melissa Sgambelluri (born 1983 in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

) is an American actress, dancer, and singer, most famous for her appearances on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

Season 6 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

as the "fountain girl". She was raised in the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

and now lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Melissa has appeared on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' and worked on an EP.

Early career

Sgambelluri acted in

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

theater in Albany's Washington Park, and was a runner-up for the Albany Tulip Queen beauty contest. She attended

Bishop Maginn High School Bishop Maginn High School was a Catholic high school in Albany, New York. It was a coeducational institution. The school belonged to the school system of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. It was accredited by the New York State Board of Rege ...

and the

College of Saint Rose The College of Saint Rose is a private Roman Catholic college in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a women's college. It became fully co-educational in 1969; the following year, the college ad ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

. She was the opening act for ''American Idol'' Season 4 runner-up

Bo Bice Harold Elwin "Bo" Bice Jr. (born November 1, 1975) is an American singer and musician who was the runner-up against Carrie Underwood in the American Idol (season 4), fourth season of ''American Idol''. Prior to auditioning for ''American Idol'', ...

, and sang locally at other gigs in the

, while also working as a receptionist at a hair stylist's boutique.Kyle Griffin, "Saint Rose alum makes it to Hollywood: She made it to Hollywood, but who is alum Melissa Sgambelluri?",

''CSR Chronicle'', February 4, 2007, found at
''CSR Chronicle'' article
Accessed January 17, 2008. Sgambelluri appeared in the first few minutes of the "Best of the Rest" episode of ''

American Idol Season 6 The sixth season of ''American Idol'' premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and January 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned to judge o ...

'', where she sang

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

's ''

Ain't No Other Man "Ain't No Other Man" is a song by the American singer Christina Aguilera from her fifth studio album '' Back to Basics'' (2006). Aguilera co-wrote the song with Kara DioGuardi, Charles Martin Roane, Harold Beatty and the producer DJ Premier. "Ain ...

'' and

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

's '' Someone to Watch Over Me''.''Idol'' Fan site
. Accessed January 17, 2008. She also appeared in the opening credits and a promo that season jumping up and down in a fountain in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

with her "Golden Ticket" to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, but was

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

ually required to keep her final status a

secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

. Sgambelluri was eliminated from the competition in the Hollywood rounds. She did, however, make it into the ''Idol'' Final 100, received kudos from

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

and

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...

, was feted in Albany, and was able to perform in Hollywood.

Subsequent career

Sgambelluri has recorded a video at Quad Studios in

, which is now shown at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and other

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

web sites. Since mid-2007, she has performed as an

R & B Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

singer around the Capital District, as well as the New York City area.Soundclick.com web site
Accessed January 23, 2008. She lives in

and is co-lead singer for the Connecticut pop cover band
So What?

References

External links

Sample songs from a fan page

* ttp://flashgamesite.com/live/tag_sgambelluri.html Sample videos from the FlashGameSite fan site
Sample videos from the Fresh News Indian web site

Sample videos on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sgambelluri, Melissa 1983 births Living people American Idol participants Actors from Albany, New York College of Saint Rose alumni 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Musicians from Albany, New York