David Archuleta and Michael Johns: Their Professional Background

David Archuleta and Michael Johns were two of the top performers on American Idol last night. Each received tickets to Hollywood.

Like Carly Smithson and Kristy Lee Cook, however, each also has an extensive professional background. To wit:

Michael Johns was formerly the lead singer of two bands: The Rising and Film. He used to be known as Michael Lee and was actually signed to Maverick Records while leading Film. Things get even juicier:

The group was set to release a debut album in 2003, until - according to one of the group members - Michael allegedly screwed over Film by leaving the band and stealing their songs, claiming he wrote them.

While not evidence of that claim's validity, the MySpace profile for Fame is shown above - at least proving Johns was its lead singer.

Nothing about David Archuleta is as controversial, but his background isn't exactly amateur, either. The 16-year old singer won Star Search when he was 12 and has appeared on numerous programs ever since.

David Archuleta even sang once for an audience that included Kelly Clarkson. Check out the grainy video now:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8SJXDPE_sQ&eurl=http://www.rickey.org/?p=6887[/youtube]