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Duff proves she`s not `so yesterday` on tour
LA, Dec 08: Pop might not be the genre du jour at radio, but tour organizers believe Hilary Duff can still be a performing success.
Additionally, from Dec. 1-16, she is appearing on 11 radio-station Christmas shows featuring multiple acts. Many of those concerts are selling strongly. They include sold-out shows Dec. 5 at Los Angeles' Staples Center for mainstream top 40 KIIS' annual Jingle Ball and Dec. 11 at New York's Madison Square Garden, presented by mainstream top 40 WHTZ, says Scot Finck, VP of promotion at Duff's label, Hollywood Records.
Her stints as the star of Disney TV series "Lizzie McGuire" and its film companion "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," give Duff a built-in fan base, Bruck and Finck note.
Plus, her debut album, "Metamorphosis," has sold 1.2 million copies since its August release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Its first single, "So Yesterday," peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart.
Still, Finck says there was concern regarding Duff's entering the pop field at a time when many of its stars have peaked.
"We absolutely faced a wall of doubt and dissidence when we started on this record," he says. "We didn't have a point of reference."
Even so, John Ivey -- VP of programing for Clear Channel/Los Angeles and PD for the city's KIIS and adult top 40 KYSR -- suggests that with acts like Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync on the sidelines, fans are primed for an artist like Duff.
"The genre needed to take a little bit of a break. It comes in cycles, where the first wins, the second one does pretty well and then, past that, everything falls off," Ivey says. "So now that all that has passed, the door has opened a bit for acts like Duff."
Other expected holiday radio-show sellouts that will have Duff on the bill include the KRBE Jingle Jam Dec. 4 at the Reliant Arena in Houston and the Very Diva Christmas Dec. 2 at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Mo., presented by KMXV.
Jon Zellner, Infinity VP of programing for Kansas City, believes Duff could prove to be a boon for the top 40 radio format. Listeners must tune into their stations to find mainstream acts like Duff, he says.
Bureau Report