Todrick Hall
Todrick Hall (born April 4, 1985) is an American singer, rapper, choreographer, and YouTuber. He gained national attention on the ninth season of the televised singing competition American Idol. Following this, he amassed a huge following on YouTube with viral videos including original songs, parodies, and skits. A documentary series about his video-making process titled Todrick aired on MTV in 2015.
Todrick Hall
April 4, 1985
- Singer
- rapper
- choreographer
- YouTuber
- actor
- dancer
2008–present
- Planet Hype
- FrtyFve
2008–present
3.61 million[2]
891.78 million[2]
Starting with season eight, Hall became a resident choreographer and occasional judge on RuPaul's Drag Race.[3][4] From 2016 to 2017, Hall starred as Lola in Kinky Boots on Broadway. Later in 2017, he began appearances as Billy Flynn in Chicago on Broadway and the West End.
Hall has released four studio albums, including the visual albums Straight Outta Oz (2016) and Forbidden (2018). In 2020, he released an EP, Quarantine Queen, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic featuring "Mask, Gloves, Soap, Scrub", and was the international host of Global Pride 2020.[5][6]
Early life and education[edit]
Todrick Hall was born on April 4, 1985, in Plainview, Texas, a farming community in the state's panhandle.[7][8][9] He was raised by a single mother until she married when he was a teen, when he gained a brother and stepfather.[8][9] Later the family would move to Dallas.[8]
As a child, he adored The Wizard of Oz. As an adult, he would create Oz, the Musical; the pop song The Wizard of Ahhhs featuring the pop a cappella quintet Pentatonix; and the visual album and tour Straight Out of Oz.[10][8] An elementary teacher in Dallas led Hall toward the arts, including theater, the orchestra, and ballet.
Hall is gay, and came out to his family when he was 15.[8][11] At age 16, he began performing on weekends at the amusement park Six Flags Over Texas; it was the first time he combined singing and dancing.[8][12][13] He also performed on cruises with Royal Caribbean, Holland America Line, and at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.[14][15][16] Hall has said that his work ethic comes from the lack of opportunities he had in the entertainment industry as a black gay man.[17]
Career[edit]
2006–2010: Broadway, YouTube, American Idol[edit]
When Hall was twenty he auditioned for the Broadway production of The Color Purple with Oprah Winfrey and Fantasia Barrino.[14] He was cast in the ensemble, and as understudy for the role of Harpo.[18] Barrino rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality singing competition American Idol, and working with her would inspire Hall to later audition for the show as well.[14] After The Color Purple he performed in Memphis: The Musical and touring productions of Beauty and the Beast, Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes, and Hairspray.[14]
Hall relocated to Los Angeles, eventually living in a four-bedroom "nondescript three-story home in the Hollywood Hills". He joined the video-sharing platform YouTube in May 2006, and made over 300 videos in the next five years.[9][14][1] His first video, filmed while still living in Texas, was "a hilarious clip of him singing his order to a McDonald's drive-through speaker (complete with backup singers)".[9][19] The video has since received over ten million views.[19] In 2008 he uploaded a video of a performance of "Hard to Say Goodbye," which boosted his subscribers to two million.[7] YouTube became a full-time pursuit for Hall in 2011.[14] He says the platform showcases "how I can write a song, create the concepts, execute them, direct, choreograph and do hair and makeup" as well as perform.[1] Some of his popular videos were the basis of later concert tours like "Twerk Du Soleil" and the "Toddlerz Ball."[1]
In August 2009, Hall auditioned for the ninth season of American Idol in Dallas, Texas.[20] He sang a self-composed song mentioning the judges – Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and guest judge Joe Jonas – to make his case for inclusion in the program.[21] Years later, reflecting on his Idol experiences, Hall said his "fondest memory" was the audition song.[22] All four approved of his participation; he went into Hollywood week and eventually the semi-finals. In the Top 24, he sang Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone",[21] and in the Top Twenty performed Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It". He was eliminated in the Top 16 on March 11, 2010, after his rendition of Queen's "Somebody to Love;" he was one of four contestants eliminated in that round, and thus ranked between 13th and 16th overall.[23] Judge Simon Cowell dismissively told Hall he "wouldn't amount to anything beyond a Broadway actor".[24] Later Hall stated that he regretted hiding his sexuality on the show: he had a girl wait for his post-audition walk outside with his golden ticket.[25][26][10]
In August 2010, Hall returned to Broadway in the musical Memphis.[18] Hall feels, in contrast to producing shows and managing staff, that his Broadway work was less stressful as he was an employee who did his job then was done.[27] As a producer he was responsible for every facet of production.[27]
2011–2013: Career growth and YouTube fame[edit]
Hall's audience has grown considerably: as of June 2019, Hall currently has 3.1 million subscribers on YouTube, and as of March 2018, his videos have been viewed 531.9 million times.[28] Hall's videos include several of his own original songs and music videos, choreographed flash mobs for Ariana Grande[29] and Beyoncé performed in an actual Target store,[30] the latter of which Beyoncé personally recognized Hall for,[31] musical collaborations with Pentatonix, and personal updates.
In May 2011, he released a video audition for the third season of Glee titled "I Wanna Be on Glee", for possible inclusion in the show.[32] Though the video was popular, Hall was not cast in the program.
In November 2013, Virgin America produced a pop-music safety video directed by Jon M. Chu with music by Jean-Yves Decornet. Hall wrote the song and lyrics and starred in the video.[33] In December 2013, Hall released a Christmas album entitled Dear Santa, with covers of "This Christmas" and "Sleigh Bells", produced by wiidope as well as original songs "So Cold" and "SplitsOnXmasTrees".[34]
Hall did a choreographed flash mob in a Target store to Beyoncé's "End of Time" prompting her to hire Hall as a choreographer on her roller-disco video, "Blow" which came out in November 2013.[8][35]
2014–2015: Pop Star High and Todrick docuseries[edit]
From April 1 to May 13, 2014, Hall released an eight episode web series on his YouTube channel called Pop Star High. The series takes place in a world where all of the most famous Pop Stars of our day all went to high school together. The series portrays and parodies pop stars like Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, Ne-Yo, Kanye West, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Tyga, and draws on the tropes of high school comedy movies. The soundtrack for the series was released on April 1, 2014.
On October 22, 2014, MTV announced Todrick, a docuseries following Hall, would premiere in 2015.[36] On December 20, 2014, Hall produced and appeared in a commercial for the series and featured other celebrities' holiday wishes. Eight episodes of the docuseries were ordered and aired throughout 2015.[37] The soundtrack for the show was released on October 13, 2015. In October 2015, he was picked as Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month and was featured on NBC's Today show hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb and broadcast nationally where he performed live his single "Wind It Up".
In February 2015, he was the first artist featured on VH1's Huge on the Tube series.[38]