Michael Sarver

Michael Sarver
Michael Sarver
	Sarver performing during the American Idol Live Concert Tour in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Background information
Born	March 28, 1981 (age 43); Sulphur, Louisiana
Origin	Jasper, Texas, United States
Genres	R&B, soul, rock, pop, country
Occupation(s)	Singer, oil rig roughneck worker
Instrument(s)	Vocals, piano, guitar, drums
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Dream Records/Fontana Distribution
Website	http://michaelsarver.com

Michael Sarver (born March 28, 1981)^[3] is an American singer who was the tenth place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol.

Early life

Sarver was born in Sulphur, Louisiana, and graduated from Sulphur High School.^[4] He has two children, McKenna and Grayson.^[5] He has written over 1100 songs for himself and others since the age of 14, and has also been singing since he was an adolescent.^[6] Prior to American Idol, Sarver worked as a roughneck on an oil rig.

American Idol

Overview

Sarver auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in Phoenix, Arizona.^[7] During the first semi-finals week, he was able to garner enough votes to allow him to continue, beating fellow contestant Anoop Desai for the third spot by just over 20,000 votes. He was eliminated on March 26, 2009, after the panel of judges were unable to unanimously agree to save him.^[8]^[9] As Sarver was in the top 10, he was able to perform on the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2009.

Performances/Results

Week #	Theme	Song choice	Original artist	Order #	Result
Audition	N/A	"Thank You"	Boyz II Men	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	First Solo	"More Than Anyone"	Gavin DeGraw	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	Group Performance	"Some Kind of Wonderful"	Soul Brothers Six	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	Second Solo	"All or Nothing"	O-Town	N/A	Advanced
Top 36/Semi-Final 1	Billboard Hot 100 Hits to Date	"I Don't Want to Be"	Gavin DeGraw	8	Advanced
Top 13	Michael Jackson	"You Are Not Alone"	Michael Jackson	4	Safe
Top 11	Grand Ole Opry	"Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)"	Garth Brooks	1	Bottom 2¹
Top 10	Motown	"Ain't Too Proud to Beg"	The Temptations	6	Eliminated

^Note 1 When Ryan Seacrest announced the results in the particular night, Sarver was in the bottom three, but declared safe second when Alexis Grace was eliminated.

Post-Idol

Sarver signed with Dream Records/Universal Music Group in December 2009. That same month, he joined "Idol" alums Gina Glocksen, David Hernandez and Alexis Grace on the American Stars In Concert Tour.^[10]^[11] He released a self-titled debut album in July 2010,^[12] and three songs - "You Are", "Cinderella Girl", and "Ferris Wheel" - were released as singles.^{[citation needed]} His Myspace page later revealed he signed to Dream Records/Fontana Distribution.^[2] He has also become the official spokesperson for Credit Power Educational Foundation, Inc.^[13] In June 2010, Sarver launched a web site http://michaelsarver.com. In 2012, Sarver left Dream Records due to the inability of the label to fulfill their contractual obligations.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
Title	Album details	US Country^[14]	US Heat ^[15]
Michael Sarver	Release date: July 27, 2010 Label: Dream Records/Fontana	58	45
Christmas	Release date: November 30, 2010 Label: Independently released	—	—
Begin Again	Release date: June 9, 2015 Label: Independently released	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart