EARLY YEARS
Sanjaya Shekar Malakar (which was then changed to Sanjaya Joseph Malakar as discussed in details in the following paragraphs) was born on September 10, 1989, in Greater Seattle (or in Seattle metropolitan area. Sanjaya’s father is Vasudeva Malakar, a Bengali Indian who emigrated to the United States as a Hare Krishna pujari. His mother is an Italian American, Jillian Recchi Blyth, who, just like his father, is also a follower of the Vaishnava Hindu religion.

Unfortunately, Sanjaya Malakar’s parents filed for a divorce when Sanjaya was just three years old. It was a very difficult moment of their lives. Sanjaya’s family was living in a Seattle apartment and they had no money to live on then, save for the welfare assistance the family received from the government.

CHANGE OF NAME
After the divorce, Sanjaya Malakar’s mother remarried, but all too soon, Sanjaya’s stepfather died. In the year 1995, Shekar, Sanjaya Malakar’s middle name, was changed to Joseph. This was done to honor Sanjaya’s late grandfather whom Sanjaya cites as his hero, Joseph Paul Recchi Sr.

Sanjaya Malakar spent most of his life in Greater Seattle, but Sanjaya had also been in several other places such as in California and in Kauai, Hawaii.

EARLY MUSIC CAREER
Even as a child, Sanjaya Malakar had been singing and performing. While in Hawaii, Sanjaya performed in the Hawaii Children’s Theater Group. When Sanjaya was still back in Seattle, he sang for the Total Experience Gospel Choir for three years.

Sanjaya Malakar’s inclination to music runs deep in their blood. Sanjaya’s father, Vasudeva Malakar, was a classical Indian musician. Sanjaya’s older sister, Shyamali is a singer, too, as well as his cousin, Camila Recchi.

EDUCATION
During middle school, Sanjaya Malakar attended the Seattle Waldorf School and the Northshore Middle High. In the academic year of 2004-2005 during Sanjaya’s freshman year, he attended Shorecrest High School. During Sanjaya sophomore year (from 2005-2006) though, he attended Todd Beamer High School where Sanjaya made a lot of friends. Sanjaya’s social group called themselves the “Downstairs Kids” which continued to be his support group especially during his 9-week stint in the American Idol Season 6.

In order to focus more on Sanjaya’s music career and in his participation in the American Idol Season 6, he took the General Education Development test to leave high school early, and this he passed with flying colors.

AMERICAN IDOL STINT
On September 19, 2006, a shy teen together with his older sister decided to go to Seattle Center in Seattle to audition for American Idol Season 6. This shy teen was none other than Sanjaya Malakar with his older sister, Shyamali who was then attending the Evergreen State College and was a resident of Lacey, Washington. Sanjaya sang “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” by Stevie Wonder, for his one-minute a capella audition piece because Sanjaya likes Stevie Wonder songs so much. Although Sanjaya’s voice was decidedly better than his sister’s, the three judges had a unanimous decision: to give both Sanjaya and his sister, Shyamali, a spot in Hollywood.

OFF TO HOLLYWOOD
For Sanjaya Malakar’s next performance, he sang “Some Kind of Wonderful” by Grand Funk Railroad. This time, only Sanjaya Malakar advanced to the Top 40, his sister was then thrown out. Sanjaya was crying so hard while hugging his sister.

The three judges, especially Simon Cowell, were very much skeptical about Sanjaya’s vocal performance. However, Simon admitted that Sanjaya was very popular with the voters

MOVING SCENARIOS
There was an 11-year old girl who was highlighted in the American Idol Season 6 show because she was always crying “tears of joy” whenever a contestant’s performance would move her. This girl was Ashley Ferl, who cried during the performances of Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks, and many other. During Sanjaya Malakar’s performance of “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks when he was in top 11, Ferls’ tears of joy for Sanjaya’s performance were highlighted. This time the judges gave a more positive appraisal of Sanjaya’s performance.

STRIKING MANE
On May 27, 2007, Sanjaya Malakar performed “Bathwater” by No Doubt onstage, coming out with a weird hairstyle made with multiple ponytails, a “fauxhawk”. Ryan Seacrest, the lone host of all the seasons of American Idol, called it a “ponyhawk”. The following night, Seacrest came out of the stage for hosting wearing a wig resembling the Sanjaya Malakar’s “fauxhawk” hairstyle, parodying Sanjaya. It was in this performance that Sanjaya had forgotten some of the lyrics of the song he was singing. But Sanjaya still placed 10th, owing to his good rendition and vocal performance, moving on with the competition.

SONGS AND PEFORMANCES
Sanjaya Malakar sang and performed a total of 11 songs during the course of his stay in the American Idol Season 6. The pieces Sanjaya performed are “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” by Stevie Wonder (audition), “Some Kind of Wonderful” by Grand Funk Railroad (Hollywood, in the top 40), “Knocks Me Off My Feet” by Stevie Wonder (top 24), “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” by Irving Berlin (top 20), “Waiting on the World to Change” by John Mayer (top 16), “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (top 12), “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks (top 11), “Bathwater” by No Doubt (top 10), “Cheek to Cheek” by Irving Berlin (top 9), “Besame Mucho” by Consuelo Velazquez (top 8), and finally, “Something to Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt (top 7, last song).

Sanjaya Malakar sang his swan song on April 18, 2007, and reportedly, Sanjaya’s elimination caused the 9% drop in the following episode ratings of American Idol Season 6, which was the “Idol Gives Back”, a charity activity of the show.

Moldova.org, a music news Web site, claimed that the drop in rating was indeed correlated to Sanjaya Malakar’s departure.

REACTION OF THE PUBLIC
Based on the articles and searches conducted on the Internet, Sanjaya Malakar was the season’s most talked about competitor in the American Idol singing sensation.

FANJAYA
Sanjaya Malakar’s uniqueness and charisma had driven a significant number of fans(?) on his side. One American Idol fan claimed on MySpace to have been on a hunger strike until Sanjaya was voted off, though she soon cancelled it out when Sanjaya stood his ground on American Idol Season 6 longer than expected. In the fan’s YouTube video, there was a prominent advertisement on display, which caused speculations that the “hunger strike” was really for profit.

There was even a page in the MySpace online community titled “Team Sanjaya” to ensue support for the 17-year old American Idol contestant. Other members of the online community contributed semi-fictional Web sites called “Sanjaya-Idol”. Here, Sanjaya Malakar is portrayed in a satirical but supportive manner.

There were even Web sites parodying Sanjaya Malakar’s success including “If Sanjaya Wins” and “Sanjaya, the Apocalypse”.

CONTROVERSIES…CONTROVERSIES…CONTROVERSIES…
Sanjaya Malakar had indeed spawned several controversies in the show. For one, Simon Cowell told Extra, that should Sanjaya win in the American Idol Season 6, he would not return anymore to American Idol to host.

Even some commentators have remarked that due to the fact that Sanjaya Malakar had gone so far in the show even without winning yet, the judges have stopped giving relevant and constructive criticisms and comments to Sanjaya.

People have went so far as to predict that American Idol’s franchise will be cancelled if Sanjaya Malakar wins. On the April 17 airing of American Idol Season 6, Simon Cowell said, "I know this has been funny for a while, but based on the fact that we are supposed to be finding the next American Idol it (pertaining to Sanjaya’s performance) was hideous."

VOTED FOR THE WORST
The Weblog “Vote for the Host” picked Sanjaya Malakar for the sixth season, top 12. Before, the candidates were Antonella Barba and Sundance Head, but both were eliminated as well. On March 19, 2007, Howard Stern campaigned through his radio show to join the Weblog in order to “corrupt the No. 1 show in television”. Some people who listen to Stern regularly reportedly voted 300 times, and when asked for his reaction, Sanjaya Malakar said that even his own aunt voted 1,100 times.

The reaction of Sanjaya Malakar’s fan, Ashley Ferl was satirized on the March 24, 2007 airing of Saturday Night Live, during the Weekend Update segment. Malakar was portrayed by Andy Samberg, and the crying fan was portrayed by Kristin Wiig. Also feigning tears in the audience were Fred Armisen and Dan Aykroyd. Samberg imitated Malakar again during the monologue of the April 21, 2007 episode, singing the song "Something To Talk About" as a duet with host Scarlett Johansson.

LIFE AFTER AMERICAN IDOL
Life for this aspiring singer had been quite full and busy after Sanjaya Malakar’s elimination in the American Idol Season 6.

After being voted off April 18, 2007, Sanjaya Malakar was invited to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner as a People Magazine guest. There Sanjaya met up with President George W. Bush. Sanjaya Malakar was very popular with the press people and fan, and was even prompted for an autograph by Eliot Spitzer, New York Governor.

Sanjaya Malakar was featured in the April 12, 2007 issue of US Magazine. The article was “Sanjaya Speaks” where Malakar was asked about his reactions to the parodies, Simon Cowell and Howard Stern’s comments of him, and to his new celebrity status.

Malakar was featured in the May 7, 2007 issue of People Magazine. There, Sanjaya talked about his American Idol run, his younger years, and dreams and future aspirations. Sanjaya said that he was raised vegetarian, a diet that the singer still follows up to this day.

Malakar ranked third in TIME Magazine's 2007 TIME 100 POLL for The Most Influential People of the Year, based on online public votes. He was not mentioned in the editor's official list, though.

Sanjaya Malakar was even nominated for TV.com's Fashion Awards in the categories of ON AIR: Best Hair – Male and OFF AIR: Best Trendsetter - Male.

It does not stop there. Sanjaya Malakar was also nominated for "best reality show star" in AZN Television's annual Asian Excellence Awards, and attended the awards ceremony to be aired May 24, 2007 on AZN-TV and E!

HOMECOMING
The Federal Way City Council, though initially unable to locate his address, announced plans to honor the 17-year old aspiring singer. Sanjaya Malakar was welcomed by screaming fans at The Commons at Federal Way, and was praised by the city's Mayor Michael Park and King County Council member Peter von Reichbauer for serving as a great role model, with Park stating "Sanjaya's charismatic personality, contagious smile, positive attitude, and enthusiastic pursuit of his dreams are qualities to be admired."

Sanjaya Malakar was presented a Certificate of Appreciation from the city and declaration of "South King County Sanjaya Malakar Day". In May 2007, Sanjaya was also honored at The Seattle Center in Washington, where he was greeted by fans, signed autographs, and answered questions.

Sanjaya Malakar’s personality was so winning that the council had received 200 e-mails from around the country asking the city to honor Malakar.

TELEVISION APPEARANCES
In addition to American Idol, Sanjaya Malakar had made after-show appearances in the months following, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Access Hollywood, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Best Week Ever, The Morning Show With Mike and Juliet, Extra, The Early Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Rachel Ray Show 2007.

In addition to that, Sanjaya Malakar had appeared as a guest on Nickelodeon's afternoon block, ME:TV, where he "got slimed".

Upon meeting Billy Ray Cyrus, he was reported to be discussing a guest spot on Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.