Adam Lambert

Kris Allen won the eighth season of American Idol, but runner-up Adam Lambert quickly became the bigger star. Within a month of losing, he came out in a Rolling Stone cover story, and not long after that he outraged half the country with an American Music Awards performance that involved bondage, man-on-man kissing, and a middle-finger salute, an admirably filthy appearance tailor-made for distancing himself from his stodgy, family-friendly origins. Not that Lambert completely shelved the theatrics during the contest: His swoony, snake-charming “Ring Of Fire” cover turned Grand Ole Opry night upside-down. His glam-pop debut, 2009’s For Your Entertainment, was equally over-the-top, but it proved that he knows something most contestants fail to learn: You’ll never live down those Ford commercials without some attitude. 

Updated 06/01/2010