When Taylor Hicks auditioned for American Idol, he believed what many others, including Simon Cowell, did not - that he had a voice that could win it all. Now, the gray-haired blues musician dances and sings his way toward superstardom.

From the moment he strode onto the scene in the Las Vegas auditions last winter and told a skeptical Simon Cowell he had a voice, Taylor Hicks brought a different kind of magic to American Idol. Call it down-home blues magic. As a musician, he stood above the other contestants—and it wasn't just his hair that was different.

Throughout the competition, Taylor never compromised himself—in his brilliant song selections, his often eyebrow-raising fashion statements (remember the purple velvet finale jacket with which he strutted down the aisle of the Kodak Theater?), or his quirky dance steps and mannerisms that became more polished as the weeks progressed. He exuded the confidence, sense of independence, knack for tasteful self-promotion and wise performance choices of a savvy entertainer who's honed his skill after years of working at it in smoky bars and swampy nightclubs. He also invited America into a lonely soul engraved with tears, sadness and disappointments, a soul yearning for love. The 29-year-old blues man has every right to call his fans - many of whom streaked their hair gray as the season progressed - the Soul Patrol. While his level of success has yet to be determined, Taylor's soul is just as steeped in the blues as some other great Southerners who turned loneliness and pain into vinyl magic: Elvis. James Brown. Ray Charles. Otis Redding. Sam Cooke. Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers.

Beginning at that Las Vegas audition, and continuing through the Hollywood rounds to the live shows, it was obvious the gray-haired dude had brought his A-game to the show and was in to win. "I understand how hard it's been to get to where I am now," he says. "You go and play years in clubs without anybody really listening to you, and it makes you appreciate when all the seats are filled and the people are cheering—after this whole American Idol thing with millions behind you."

Take Me Home, Country Roads

How did a seemingly regular guy from the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama capture the hearts of America and earn the majority of 63 million votes to win the final? Maybe the magic sweeping into American Idol from his home state blew his way.

Taylor is not the only Alabama native who has gone on to win and/or place high in the competition over the years. Other Birmingham-born finalists include Ruben Studdard, the Season 2 winner and platinum gospel artist, and Diana DeGarmo, the Season 3 runner-up and Hairspray star on Broadway. In 2005, rocker Bo Bice of nearby Helena was runner-up to winner Carrie Underwood. "Bo Bice kind of paved the way for people around my age," Taylor explains. "He had kind of the same flair, not really being close to a big city. He showed the way for us to get out there and audition in different cities—Orlando for him, Las Vegas for myself."

Alabama has certainly been fertile ground for music, and has played a central role in the development of blues and country music. The state is home to musical pioneers from Hank Williams Jr. to Lionel Richie. The celebrated Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section backed many of the finest blues, rock and R&B acts in the '60s and '70s, including Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and the Rolling Stones. Shoals session guitarist Jimmy Johnson said, "There's something in the water here."

Well, Taylor must've been drinking lots of that water, along with his favorite Southern beverage, sweet tea.

In The Ghetto

Taylor has no formal training in music. He attended Auburn University, studying business, communications and marketing, but dropped out to pursue music. He discovered soul music as a kid, and identified with the universal themes of love and loss, loneliness, pain and the uncertainty of life — things that he had experienced at a young age stemming from the divorce of his parents. Surprisingly, too, with all his exuberance in front of an audience, he's lonely much of the tune behind the curtain. He's also circumspect when it comes to talking about himself, family, and his private life.

Like many other solitary musicians, Taylor found himself at home on the road with its many instabilities. Ironically, the road became a foundation for him for 10 years, a place where he could season his life and remain within himself. He played every blues dive bar on the "chitlin" circuit — small clubs located mostly in the South - and learned to be an entertainer, the best possible form of "on-the-job" training. You can see in his eyes and hear in his voice all the years, all the gigs, all the cheers, boos, hollers and catcalls. His are not the wide sparkling eyes of an overnight success story, but the deep, lined eyes of a man with whom you can sit in a room and talk about the intersections of music and life for hours on end.

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Taylor's love and passion for music is apparent whenever he opens his mouth. You get the impression that becoming a musician had nothing to do with conscious choice... he just had to do it! "If you love it, you've got to go and play it. You might get told 'no' by a bunch of people," he says. "You play and nobody pays you. You go through the 'payin' the dues,' which makes you respect the music. It's based off of pure love for the music. It's something that's been inside me. No matter what I've done, who's told me 'no,' how little money I've made, I've always enjoyed it. And it's been good to me."

He gives props to his mentors repeatedly and thanks them at every turn. He's actually performed with a few, including the legendary James Brown and Percy Sledge. "I developed the passion and desire from the music I listen to: Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Brian McKnight... those people have such a passion. They taught me to love music," he says.

Taylor parlayed the lessons learned from those musical heroes into a sound of his own. Sure, he still invokes comparisons to Michael McDonald, Joe Cocker, Stephen Stills and others, but he's truly crafted a voice, sound, and style uniquely his own. When a musician like the multi-platinum Christopher Cross runs into you in L.A. and tells you that he has become your fan, then you know your voice is resonating with the larger crowd.

Taylor's two independently released albums, In Your Time (1997) and Under the Radar (2005), for which he played harmonica and guitar as well as writing and singing all the songs, were sold at gigs and on his website. He likens the more recent outing to Bob Seger meets Van Morrison—with a little bit of saxophone thrown in. "Under the radar," he laughs, "that's how I was flying before American Idol."

Try A Little Tenderness

After landing in the Top 12, Taylor proved his veteran musician's deftness by the songs he chose and the way he and AI band leader Rickey Minor arranged them into 90-second performances each week. While others were scoring huge clusters of votes early on for their vocal talents and overall performances (Chris Daughtry, Katharine McPhee, Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler, Elliott Yamin), Taylor was certainly the best at rearranging tunes - most likely, the best in American Idol history. It helped him perform comfortably and consistently.

Consequently, his fan base grew as the season progressed. He knew how much song selection and arrangement factored into staying out of the bottom two or three (he was only the third contestant ever to avoid the dreaded hot seat, joining Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood). "I got more comfortable in helping to arrange the music and with everyone in the band," he said during the Final 6 round. "I was a bit timid at first when we started the process. Now I'm comfortable putting my spin on it, and now I'm working with the band as opposed to just singing with the band. There's a difference. And I think it's starting to show. I've fallen into a good groove."

Week after week, Taylor chose songs by brilliant songwriters that everyone could hook into, tunes that showcased his vocal range. Some examples of his song-picking prowess were selections like "Living for the City" by Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness," Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" and "Something" from George Harrison - a Beatles classic. "You have to pick a song that everybody knows and that everybody can relate to," Taylor explains. "I tend to pick mega-hits that people across-the-board will listen to. Not only are they hits lyrically, but musically as well. If you have a catchy phrase or solo people pick up on, and make sure those songs appeal to a broad audience."

Taylor hovered among the upper half of the weekly vote tallies for the first five weeks of finals. He made great song choices but seemed a bit awkward with his newly coiffed looks. Once quirky, his funky chicken-dancing routine lost its novelty and now seemed to reflect discomfort with the constant TV camera scrutiny. "There are twice as many cameras as I thought there'd be, and about 10 times as many lights," he said. "The first time we walked on the set, it took a whole three days to get used to the transition from Hollywood, where we just had the piano, to here, where we have a whole live band. It's been a little tough."

It was in the Final 4 round, Elvis week, when Taylor created separation, as they say in auto racing and distance running. The Deep South bluesman was visibly inspired by the trip to Graceland. "He was the original American Idol," Taylor said of Elvis. Taylor flew home with the King's energy blazing in his belly, and burned through the performance show with "Jailhouse Rock" and "In The Ghetto," one of the greatest ballad performances in Al history - only to be matched a week later by his arrangement of "Try A Little Tenderness." Taylor made Rebecca Romijn a happy girl by reprising "Jailhouse Rock" on the results show before really bringing it home with some "Burning Love" during the group medley.

On that week, the week Chris was sent home, America met its next idol.

In the show's homestretch—Finale Week—Taylor went for a quick kill. Katharine could only sit and watch with admiration as Taylor strung together "Living for the City," "Levon" and a newly-penned single he Taylorized, "Do I Make You Proud." He clearly had his intense focus on the prize. Hunger won it for him — the hunger it takes to reach deep down inside your gut, draw upon your inner resources and deliver the goods, regardless of the pressure.

While many of the other contestants grew as people, Taylor transformed as an artist. The American Idol competition was the final spit and polish needed for him to become a seasoned star with a soulful depth for which he strove during those long, lonely gigs in Southern backroad joints.

Play That Funky Music (White Boy)

In the whirlwind weeks following the Season Five Finale, Taylor Hicks has made us all proud. We're not just referring to his first single, "Do I Make You Proud," that debuted on June 13th and simultaneously topped Billboard's coveted Hot 100 chart at #1, the Billboard Single Sales chart, and the Billboard Pop 100 chart—making it the best-selling song in the country (with over 190,000 sales in its first week!). The new CD for 19 Recordings Unlimited is slated for a fall release, but what can fans expect? Hicks says he won't stray from his soulful ways on his first major label outing, and plans to make the same honest-to-goodness soulful statement he's made in the past (just with a bigger budget and production). "I'm going to have to make sure that, creatively, there's going to be some give and take. It's going to be very rootsy, very soulful, and I'm gonna 'Taylorize' it."

It's highly likely that Taylor will be able to carve out a successful recording and touring career. The media has already embraced him. Following the Finale, not only did Taylor dance with the Ellen DeGeneres Show host, but the newly anointed AI king traipsed his crown, and his soon-to-be-hit single, to the Live With Regis And Kelly, quipping with Kelly Ripa and guest co-host Vince Vaughn. He traded anecdotes with Jay Leno twice on The Tonight Show, and sang for the crew at Today the day after the departure of Katie Couric.

"I didn't change the gray hair, and I don't think I'm going to change the music, either."

Perhaps because of Kelly Clarkson's Grammy wins and Fantasia's nominations in 2005, which added even greater prestige to American Idol as a performer's ideal start-up platform, the AI5 audition turnouts were filled with more performing artists than ever before. The talent level was up, and genre boundaries seemed to melt away to create an unprecedented diversity from week to week.

That America chose a soulfully seasoned musician for its next American Idol could very well signify a refreshing new trend in mainstream music in general. The harmonica-blowing captain of the Soul Patrol certainly proved Simon wrong. Taylor is the oldest winner in the show's history. He's not your typical slim, stylish stunner in looks, either. He's handsome, all right, but not in a pubescent pop star way. If he maintains that "no compromise" attitude and makes the kind of record he's been intending to cut since long before he auditioned his trip to stardom will take all of us deeper into the land of soul.

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