Zelcer Named "Harvard Idol" in Prefect Program Event

Amy M. Zelcer ’07 was Harvard’s “Idol” Saturday night, but the evening’s only standing ovation went to a man who can’t sing.

An audience of several hundred in the Science Center chose Zelcer over Joshua M. Brener ’07 and Kieran H. Shanahan ’07 in the final round of the Harvard Idol competition.

After beating out seven other finalists last week, each of the three contestants sang two songs, one from 1999—their freshman year of high school—and another of their choosing.

Zelcer’s rendition of Mariah Carey’s “Hero” and Natalie Imbruglia’s 1999 hit “Torn” won over the audience.

But special guest Jonathan B.C. Tannen ’07—who was cut in the preliminary auditions for the contest—brought the house to its feet with his performance of “Baby Got Brains,” a takeoff on Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

The song opened with the words, “I like big brains and I cannot lie / Y’all Harvardians can’t deny / When a girl walks in with a TI-89 / You don’t care about her behind, / You get Crimson!”

Wearing a flipped over visor, khaki flood pants, black suspenders, a red bowtie and “broken” glasses taped in the middle, Tannen’s performance had the crowd roaring with laughter.

Prefect Maura E. Boyce ’05, who helped select the original group of 10 semi-finalists who performed last week, said that Tannen was cut because he didn’t have “any real singing ability,” but said that after his audition the prefects decided that he should still be involved with the show.

“I can’t actually sing,” Tannen said, saying that before the show he was “a little bit intimidated” by the other performers, whom he characterized as “really talented singers.”

Just like the TV version of “American Idol,” the Prefect Program—which organized the show for the first-years—decided to limit the genre for the first of the finalists’ two songs. The contestants only had about five days to select and perfect a song from 1999.

Shanahan sang Christina Aguilera’s “Come on Over,” and “If I Were Your Woman,” by Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Brener performed “Something Like That” by Tim McGraw—for which he put on a country outift—and Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife.”

Many fans in the audience coordinated their outfits with their preferred performer, as they had done in the first show. Brener’s supporters wore cowboy hats, while Shanahan’s fans sported red t-shirts.

And during Zelcer’s solid delivery of “Hero,” several dozen people held up and waved their open cell phones like cigarette lighters.

In addition to Tannen, other guest performances were delivered by the ’07 Steppers and contest judge Zachary D. Raynor ’05, whose comments throughout last week’s semi-finals had drawn comparisons to Simon, the highly critical co-host of the TV Idol.

Raynor sang “Flying Without Wings,” the original by Ruben Studdard, who won the most recent national “American Idol” contest.

Zelcer won a recording deal with the company Veritas Records. She will get to record one to three tracks, according to Daniel J. Zaccagnino ’05, the company’s president and founder.

Zaccagnino said he was interested in including a jazz song Zelcer performed in the first show in a compilation CD the company will put out next spring.

“We wanted to record Amy anyways,” he said, “so I was very happy that she won.”