Despite poor CD sales, Taylor Hicks has hope

Hicks, who has studied the stage moves of passionate, soulful performers like James Brown and Sly Stone, could have a better shot at success in front of a live audience than on the radio, said Mayfield.

“I think he could have at least some legs as a live performer,” he said. “The one thing I can tell you is I’m sure that a lot of thought was given to this album, and it just doesn’t appear to be a particularly friendly radio climate for whatever niche you would assign to what he does. And I’m not even really sure how to classify him.”

That could be the problem, said Barry James, a program director at the Chicago-based radio station 100.3, which plays a boomer-friendly mix of classic dance and R&B hits.

“Taylor is a terrific club, local band singer,” James said in an e-mail to the AP. “He is, however, so narrowly imaged that he’ll never break out of it. He’s Michael McDonald’s little brother (for lack of a better term).”

James said he HAS an image, “but it’s not one with broad appeal. Is he sweet? The bad boy? The sexy chick magnet? The whacked out artist? The ‘dark’ one? The answer is none of the above.”

One thing, though, is certain: The guy needs a radio hit if he wants to make on impact on major markets, said Sharon Dastur, a program director at the New York-based radio station Z100, which plays Top 40 songs. His chances for that are hampered by the album’s classic rock feel, she said.

“I think that if he just made it more of a current pop sound, but still he could showcase his soulful vocals in a more current way, that it would still be true to the way he writes and the way he performs,” Dastur said.

It’s too early to tell how things might end up, said Hicks, but, in the meantime, he’s happy to be onstage. And he’s very thankful for that moment on “American Idol,” an undeniably successful launching pad.

And he knows his “Idol” win was no fluke.

“I think you have to set yourself apart,” Hicks said. “And, you know, you really can’t pull the wool over 34 million people live. That’s just tough to do, you know?”

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