Shame Knows No Borders: Sherry St. Germain of ‘Canadian Idol’

Being the mega-hit that they are, Pop Idol and American Idol have spawned a number of franchises all over the world. Most recently, this has included Canada, where both seasons of American Idol were wildly successful. So, the Idol experience isn’t as foreign to our northern neighbors as one might think. There are some subtle differences with Canadian Idol; different host, judges, set, cultural references, but the drill is the same. Down to the “ooh-whoa-ooh-whoa-ooh.”

So, what’s that got to do with Sherry St. Germain? Sherry stood online like thousands of other hopefuls for a shot at being the Canadian Idol. She made her way through the long audition process, all the way to the Top 30. And, deservedly so. Sherry has a rock-funk style that is unique, sexy, and most importantly, marketable. She’s got pipes, she’s got presence, she stands out in a crowd.

In the Top 30, she performed in the last group of ten, which was packed with talent. So much so, it quickly made the first two groups a faded memory. Sherry certainly did her part with an exhilarating “Chain of Fools” featuring the pianist (just like American Idol, the Round of 30/32 has the singers accompanied only by a piano) knocking the board for the breaks! It rocked! Sherry just sang her face off. Thing is, all ten of the contestants sang their faces off! As your resident American Idol recapper, I tell you, I would have had tremendous difficulty figuring out how to rank them!

Time for the results show. While the judges continued to buzz about how great the all the performances were, we all knew there would be some crushed dreams by the time it was done. Only three would advance. The four judges on Canadian Idol were asked to predict who they thought the advancees would be. All of the judges who predicted (the ever-diplomatic Sass Jordan said it would be impossible to pick), predicted Sherry, and each named her first on their list!

But, when the voting results for three last guaranteed spots in the Top Ten were announced, Sherry was not one of them.

And she was pissed.

The next week was the Wildcard show. Canadian Idol’s version was not quite as haphazard as American Idol 2’s where Carmen Rasmussen, dismissed pretty early in the process, was mysteriously revived by Simon, much to his ultimate chagrin. No such controversy in Canada.

The fourth highest vote-getter of each round (highest behind the Top 3 for that week) was automatically a Wildcard entrant. The other five spots were purely were judges discretion. Remember, Sherry was thought to be a sure advancee by the judges. To no one’s surprise, all of the open Wildcard spots were filled by the talent-packed Group 3 contestants, including Sherry!

That’s great! She gets another shot! The judges obviously liked her, all she has to do is do her thing one more time and knock them dead this time. Back to the drawing board, show me the tapes, how do I build on what I did before, what’s my next number? Her mind should have been reeling! Does that pianist know any more breaks? Where is the song list?