Grammy-nominated musician and actor Adam Lambert – releasing his new album, High Drama, later this month – sat down with The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk in the latest episode of “Hollywood at Home,” a podcast featuring unplugged and uncensored conversations with today’s biggest stars. In the newest episode, Lambert, who made music history as the first openly gay artist to top the Billboard charts, gives a candid glimpse of what it was like to quit Wicked in order to audition for “American Idol,” touring the world with Queen, and the making of High Drama, and much more. Highlights below.
“Hollywood at Home” is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, and more.
Listen now at:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/high-drama-with-guest-adam-lambert/id1521900273?i=1000599535987
For planned coverage, please link to:
http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast
Highlights from “Hollywood at Home” featuring Adam Lambert –
On his first professional job: “I did a musical version of the 10 Commandments with Val Kilmer as Moses. It was a very interesting, odd little production.”
On leaving Wicked for “American Idol”: “I had to be a complete amateur. I couldn’t have any professional representation or contracts in play or anything, so I had to quit my job at Wicked. And quitting the job was scary.”
On auditioning for “American Idol”: “I kind of got to the point where I realized that nothing was going to happen in my life unless I really took a chance and dove into it. I just started saying ‘yes’ to everything. I went up to San Francisco with two friends. We sat in an arena for hours to get seen by the production assistants, and then you make that cut, and they send you to one person above them, and then I made that cut. The hoops that you jump through in that show are to kind of see if you can handle it.”
On his admiration for Queen and classic rock music: “I think, you know, I – like most people – have heard like, the big, big hits, just being at, like, events. ‘We Will Rock You’ at the stadium or, you know, ‘Another One Bites the Dust,’ or, like, these big iconic songs that you kind of know even before you know who sang them. I think that was my experience with Queen. Like, I had heard Freddie Mercury’s voice for years, but didn’t know what his name was, you know? And then in my early 20s, I started getting really into, like, diving back into the past and listening to all these, you know, bands and, you know, I kind of had that fantasy of being a rock star, and I started, you know, becoming obsessed with rock stars.”
On filling Freddie Mercury’s shoes: “Yeah, no, I was definitely a little intimidated, for sure, for sure. You know, I tried not to let it show when I was on stage, but you know in the back of my head, I was like, ‘this is kind of a big deal.’”
On his new album “High Drama” releasing February 24th: “It’s an album of covers which sort of – in a weird way – is a full circle to what I did on ‘Idol’ where I took songs and kind of changed them up drastically, which I also did for Cher, for the Kennedy Center performance of ‘Believe.’ And the real creativity behind it is figuring out ways to change the songs and make them ‘me,’ which felt really like a really good challenge.”
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More about “Hollywood at Home”
Hosted by The Creative Coalition CEO Robin Bronk, “Hollywood at Home” brings listeners intimate portraits, key moments of discovery, and “art and soul” conversations with iconic entertainment industry personalities from the big screen to the boardroom, from L.A. to D.C. Listen now at http://thecreativecoalition.org/podcast.
Previous guests include Jason Alexander (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Shiri Appleby (“UnREAL”), Iain Armitage (“Young Sheldon”), Justin Bartha (“The Hangover,” “National Treasure”), David Alan Basche (“The Exes”), Asante Blackk (“This Is Us”), Carly Chaikin (“Mr. Robot”), Aaron Cooley (“The First Lady”), Wilson Cruz (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Alan Cumming (“Schmigadoon!, “The Good Wife”), Ethan Cutkosky (“Shameless”), The Creative Coalition President and actor Tim Daly (“Madam Secretary”), Lea DeLaria (“Orange Is the New Black”), Colman Domingo (“Euphoria”), Griffin Dunne (“This Is Us”), Kerry Ehrin (“The Morning Show”), Wayne Federman (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Frances Fisher (“Titanic,” “Unforgiven”), Michael Fishman (“Roseanne,” “The Conners”), Jim Gaffigan (“The Jim Gaffigan Show”), LaMonica Garrett (“1883,” “Sons of Anarchy”) Willie Garson (“And Just Like That…”), Judy Gold (“The Other F Word”), Nicholas Gonzalez (“The Good Doctor”), Clark Gregg (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), Tony Hale (“Veep,” “Arrested Development”), Evan Handler (“And Just Like That…,” “Californication”), Patricia Heaton (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Middle”), Jon Huertas (“This Is Us”), Jason Isaacs (“Star Trek: Discovery,” “Harry Potter”), Susan Isaacs (“Compromising Positions”), Richard Kind (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Nathan Kress (“iCarly”), Jaren Lewison (“Never Have I Ever”), Chad Lowe (“Supergirl”), Aasif Mandvi (“The Daily Show”), Rachel Mason (“Circus of Books”), Marlee Matlin (“CODA”), AnnaLynne McCord (“Let’s Get Physical”), Eric McCormack (“Will and Grace”), Wendi McLendon-Covey (“The Goldbergs”), Katherine McNamara (“Shadowhunters”), Melissa Manchester (“Don’t Cry Out Loud”), Molly Smith Metzler (“Maid,” “Shameless”), Marta Milans (“Shazam!”), Rob Morrow (“Billions”), Kathy Najimy (“Younger”), Ken Olin (“This is Us,” “Thirtysomething”), Haley Joel Osment (“Future Man,” “Entourage”), Joey and Daniella Pantoliano (“The Matrix,” “Memento”), Ross Patterson (“Range 15”), Bill Prady (“The Big Bang Theory”), Kyla Pratt (“The Proud Family”), Jessica Queller (“Supergirl”), Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Yolonda Ross (“The Chi”), Reid Scott (“Veep”), Paul Scheer (“The League,” “Veep”), Mona Scott-Young (“Love & Hip Hop”), Alena Smith (“Dickinson”), Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”), Lea Thompson (“Back to the Future”), Tramell Tillman (“Severance”), Krista Vernoff (“Grey’s Anatomy”), KT Tunstall (“Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” “Suddenly I See”), Matt Walsh (“Veep”), Alfre Woodard (“Clemency,” “Luke Cage”), Constance Zimmer (“Good Trouble”), and David Zucker (“Airplane!,” “Scary Movie”).
More about The Creative Coalition
The Creative Coalition is the premier nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community. Founded in 1989 by prominent members of the creative community, The Creative Coalition is dedicated to educating, mobilizing, and activating its members on issues of public importance. Actor Tim Daly serves as the organization’s President. The Creative Coalition also creates award-winning public service campaigns including #RightToBearArts to promote the efficacy of the arts. The Creative Coalition harnesses the unique platforms of the arts community and entertainment industry to make positive impacts on social welfare issues. For more information, visit https://thecreativecoalition.org.
For press inquiries:
Jess Hoy, The Circle Collective
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