Some Background on Jory Steinberg
The Ottawa Citizen has an article about Jory Steinberg, the Canadian girl who sang well in New York and who was inexplicably meeting royalty and foreign dignitaries as a kid.
Apparently she was doing well for herself in the music industry in the late 80’s, and was “touted as the next Alanis Morissette in 1998,” but then fell off of everyone’s radar. Until now, when her going through to Hollywood is reason enough for a detailed article about her past in the local paper. Which seems to explain that her childhood singing career is what put her in the position to meet dignitaries. I guess she’s not really an undercover ninja assassin and spy like everyone was assuming:
Ms. Steinberg, who is a Canadian citizen, cut her public performance teeth as a pre-teen, singing the national anthem at Ottawa-area political and sports events. The Queen was among those who heard the youngster’s powerful, well-controlled voice.
At age 10, Ms. Steinberg landed the part of Young Cossette in the 1991 Ottawa production of Les Miserables. She subsequently appeared in the Toronto production of the musical in 1993.
Ottawa voice teacher Yoriko Tanno-Kimmons coached Ms. Steinberg for her Les Miserables audition. “I wish I could get the credit for what she did, but she was already good. I just helped her package it a bit,” she said.
In 1998, Ms. Steinberg sang Try to Say Goodbye on the soundtrack of the movie, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.
That same year, Ms. Steinberg was snapped up for a seven-album deal with record label 143, owned by Canadian-born producer David Foster.
Ms. Steinberg had been introduced to Mr. Foster during the 1994 Junos by Ottawa concert promoter Ken Craig, who first heard her singing O Canada at an Ottawa Lynx baseball game.
[...]
Alas, Ms. Steinberg’s deal with 143 — a rarity in the risk-averse record industry where a one- or two-album contract is the norm — was too good to be true. A management shuffle at the record label occurred before her first album was even given a title and the record was never released.
A single, Try to Say Goodbye, did make it to Canadian radio and fared well overseas. “I think it went double platinum in Australia or Japan,” said Ms. Steinberg.
Ms. Tanno-Kimmons has another perspective on why Ms. Steinberg’s music career flagged.
“She’s too good. She was too clean. When those other popular girls came along, they can’t sing, but they went for dirty lines to sell. She didn’t go for that.”
I don’t think being “too good” or “too clean” would be a liability on Idol. People seem to enjoy voting for those kinds of contestants, even when they can’t sing well. Jory could do well this season, especially with so much experience. That explains her lack of nervousness in front of the judges, and should give her an advantage over other contestants who haven’t performed under pressure before.