Melinda Doolittle

The 31-year-old Tennessee singer Melinda Doolittle is often held up as one of American Idol's more gifted rejects; in 2007 she finished in third place, booted before Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks, the ultimate winner, would battle it out for the public's love. And it's not just jilted fans crying for Doolittle's crown—notoriously prickly judge Simon Cowell said in a subsequent Good Morning America interview he thought Doolittle should've taken the top spot! On the show, Doolittle established her R&B and soul bonafides, delivering renditions of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and Shirley Bassey numbers that won kudos from both audience and judges alike.

It's no surprise, then, that her debut album Coming Back to You, dabbles in the same pool, drawing on classic sounds rather than trying to shoehorn Doolittle's oversized vocals into contemporary trends. The Hammond organ and punchy brass section don't quite recapture that Stax or Motown sound, and there's a little too much studio sheen, but it comes about as close as you're going to in 2009 (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings aside). She and producer Mike Mangini plow through a selection of covers—and surprisingly, most are lesser-known songs rather than the standards she showed such skill with on American Idol.

Bobby Johnson's blues number "Dust My Broom" guts a sultry rephrasing, while "Fundamental Things" takes Bonnie Raitt's country-pop into soul territory. Doolittle's choice to focus on lesser-knowns works in her favor, as she's not up against canonic performances. So far, she can interpret Tina, Whitney and Aretha, and though she's not at their level, she's closer than a lot of what you're gonna find these days.

—Chris Hassiotis
03.25.09

After doing a background check on Melinda Doolittle, during the early stages of American Idol's sixth season, something did not quite add up. Why would a singer so skilled, already something of a proven industry veteran -- with backing vocal credits on albums by Aaron Neville, CeCe Winans, Jonny Lang, and several others -- need to go through such a grueling process to get noticed and land a recording contract? As Doolittle continued to thrive on the show, that became more difficult to understand, and it also became increasingly evident that it might be best for her to not win the whole thing. With any luck, she'd fall just short of taking the prize, land on a sympathetic label, and team up with a professional producer who would tease out her strengths without worrying about platinum sales. And that, unexpectedly enough, is what happened. Coming Back to You is a set of throwback soul that has as much appeal as any other likeminded release from the past couple years, including Nikka Costa's Pebble to a Pearl and Raphael Saadiq's The Way I See It. All the promise Doolittle showed on national television as a powerhouse vocalist is fulfilled, and whatever she lacked as an assured performer -- she often seemed modest to an excruciating extent -- has vanished. She sounds like she's on her fifth or sixth album. Supported by producer Mike Mangini (Imani Coppola, Joss Stone, Elliott Yamin) and a fixed backing of session musicians that includes drummer Cindy Blackman, horn player and arranger Tom "Bones" Malone, and multi-instrumentalist Adam Pallin (Coppola's partner in Little Jackie), the album is technically all covers, yet it's only the most seasoned music fans who will recognize any of the material. "Walkin' Blues" and "Dust My Broom," a pair of songs written by blues legend Robert Johnson, get appropriately gutsy, strutting looks. Interpretations of three traditional pop songs penned by Sammy Cahn in the '50s, possibly sops to American Idol's eldest viewership, are impassioned but merely passable. Most of the remaining material, if not all of it, originally appeared on albums released in the last 12 years from the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, and Faith Hill. It's a ragtag assortment, for sure, and there's only so much enlivening that can be done to some of it. But it's all cast in warm, Southern-tinged soul, and it has a unified feel. Doolittle is nothing if not steady, making all the right moves at the right times, sounding at once like a seasoned pro and someone who feels everything she sings while never forcing or faking anything out. It's one of the smartest, most likable albums from an American Idol alum yet. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide