Taylor Hicks Wins 'American Idol' Season 5

The gray-haired leader of the 'Soul Patrol' capped off his American Idol run in fine fashion last night, as Taylor Hicks took the title of this season's American Idol. Taylor Hicks becomes the second man to win the prestigious talent show, as he took in more of the 63 million votes cast, defeating fellow Idol hopeful, Katharine McPhee.

Taylor Hicks was crowned as the fifth American Idol on America's highest-rated TV show. Despite being passed on by Brit judge Simon Cowell during the auditions, noting that he was too gray to become an Idol, judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson voted to get him into the show he would inevitably dominate. And, after winning, Hicks confessed to the audience, Thank you America! I'm living the American Dream!"

Yesterday's show, broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, was filled with performances by Idols, past and present, as well as many stars from the business. The twelve Idols performed "I Made It Through The Rain" by Barry Manilow, Taylor Hick performed with Toni Braxton, Katharine McPhee with Meat Loaf, Chris Daughtry performed with the band Live, Paris Bennett with Al Jarreau, Elliot Yamin with Mary J. Blige, as well as all twelve American Idol finalists with Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick. Also appearing at the finale were Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood and Prince.

Taylor Hicks, a Birmingham, Alabama native, kept the tradition of American Idol winners being from the South alive. The 29-year old is also the oldest winner of American Idol. Hicks managed his win from the 63.4 million votes cast, which MTV quoted Ryan Seacrest as saying it was "more [votes] than any president in the history of our country has ever received."

Bucking the trend of Southern finalists was Katharine McPhee. As the BBC reports, "Runner-up McPhee is the first contestant from Los Angeles to shine on the programme. She is a trained singer backed by her vocal-coach mother and attended the prestigious Boston Conservatory for a semester."

The final show of American Idol was viewed by more than 36 million people, according to Nielsen Media Research. As Reuters reports, this "marks the second-biggest non-sports telecast of the season, behind only the 38.8 million viewers who watched the Academy Awards in March. The live, two-hour American Idol finale also drew a whopping 35 share of all viewers aged 18 to 49, sealing the Fox network's first-place season ratings finish for the audience group most prized by advertisers."

As for Taylor Hicks and his future plans, People quoted him as saying "I'll probably live on my tour bus. My home has been the road since even before American Idol. A tour bus with some good, cold iceberg lettuce is probably where I'm going to stay."

[Additional Sources: MTV, BBC, Reuters, People]