It’s been just over a year since Birmingham, Ala., native Taylor Hicks won first place in the fifth season of American Idol. He’s since performed for an American Idol tour, two solo tours, released his self-titled major-label CD debut and published a book about his life, Heart Full of Soul. 

The just-released book, the touring singer said from near Waukegan, Ill., “it’s about beating the odds and working 10 years for that one shot, that one opportunity. When it happens, you have to make the best of it.”

Of course, Hicks’ shot was American Idol, starting with Idol auditions in Las Vegas. How he got to Vegas is a story unto itself.

Hicks was in New Orleans Aug. 28, 2005 to attend a friend’s wedding. Of course, Hurricane Katrina arrived the following day.

After the singer’s flight from New Orleans was canceled, he received a voucher from the airlines entitling him to fly anywhere in the United States. Hicks used his voucher to fly to Las Vegas, where his brother lived.

“I’d never been to Las Vegas before,” he said.

“So I ended up there when the American Idol auditions were happening. My brother told me that they were there and I went.”

Having paid years of dues in Alabama and Florida clubs, Hicks was ready to take full advantage of his surprise opportunity.

“People always told me that I have to keep my eye on the target,” he said. “I listened to that, it resonated with me.”

For his American Idol repertoire, the soul music-loving Hicks picked songs that played to his strengths.

“I was trying to feel each song,” he said. “That was my thing and that’s the only way that I can connect with the music.”

Hicks’ nervousness about competing in TV’s most popular talent show faded quickly.

“I started getting comfortable with the theater and the stage,” he said. “It became second nature to me. It’s always been second nature.”

Yet when the show’s final night arrived, Hicks was shocked when he won the top spot. 

“Well, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I still can’t believe it. Every morning I wake up and pinch myself.”

Though Hicks wasn’t even born when his musical heroes Ray Charles, James Brown and Otis Redding released their hits, those classic artists deeply affected him while he was growing up in Alabama. 

“At an early age I just connected with the emotional energy that they put into their songs,” he said. “It’s just something that happens, that clicks in you.

“As an artist, you explore all those avenues that each of those artists who you love have to offer.”

Just being from Alabama helped, too.

“Music oozes out of the South,” he said.