Melissa McGhee
Season 5 · Eliminated 12th
Where are they now
As of July 2014, Melissa McGhee was performing regularly at Enigma in St. Petersburg and writing toward an EP, after returning to Tampa stages the year before. Her cover of What About Love is the first track on American Idol Season 5: Encores, released May 23, 2006.
Career
- 2006
American Idol, season 5
Eliminated 12th
- 2006
In the season 5 top 12 week of March 15, she sang Stevie Wonder's Lately and was eliminated in 12th place. She was from Tampa and auditioned in Denver with Can't Fight the Moonlight.
- 2006
Her cover of Heart's What About Love is track 1 on the various-artists compilation American Idol Season 5: Encores, released May 23, 2006, on RCA. The album is not a release under her name.
- 2013
A July 17, 2014 report says she took time off after the show and re-emerged in Tampa the previous year, including a music festival in Kenwood. As of that report she was performing at Enigma in St. Petersburg, hosting a weekly singing contest, and writing toward an EP.
More milestones
- Date not documented
Before American Idol she sang in pageants and traveled to Orlando and Nashville for showcases, she told a July 17, 2014 interview. The same interview says she auditioned for season two in Miami, did not advance, and then took a break from singing.
Sources
- Idol vet Melissa McGhee re-emerges in Tampa Bay's music scene — Watermark Out News, July 17, 2014.
- American Idol Season 5: Encores (Wikipedia revision 1368978083) — Wikipedia, August 12, 2026.
- American Idol season 5 — Wikipedia, May 18, 2026.
- List of American Idol finalists — Wikipedia, June 10, 2026.
