Growing up, Haley Scarnato was an avid gymnast with what she admits was a strange habit.
But the habit paid off when she started to grow and the gymnastics injuries started to mount.
“I dislocated my shoulders, hurt my hips and my knees,” the 27-year-old recalls. “Everything just started going, so I had to retire on that.
“But I would sing while I was tumbling, which is really weird, but I would. I would just constantly sing. So I took voice lessons and found out that was my true passion.”
By age 15, Haley was singing in a wedding band.
By age 24, she was standing on the American Idol stage, a finalist in season six.
She’d finish eighth that year, enduring a few snarky comments from Simon Cowell along the way … comments that helped earn her the nickname “Legs” and nearly landed her in a Nair commercial.
Haley talked about that and more when Idol Chatter caught up with her from her San Antonio, Texas, home last week.
She’s preparing to appear in the American Christmas show Dec. 5 in Napa Valley with 11 other former Idol contestants. The show is available via Webcast. Go here or see the banner below for more information on that.
Now, the interview with Haley …
Chatter: What’s been going on with you since Idol?
Haley: A lot has happened. I moved to Nashville right after tour. I lived there for a while, trying to just meet other people. I was in negotiations with a manager, and he was helping me out. Everything was going really well, but then I had a stalker so I had to get out of there because it got pretty serious. So I moved back to Texas and I’ve been working on my album, going back and forth to Nashville.
But I’m taking my time. I don’t want to put out an album like some of the Idols do and have an album out, but you really don’t hear much about it, or it’s just on iTunes or something. I really want to put my money out where it needs to go and advertise it and promote it the right way.
I also do a lot of charity work around here. I’m working with the March of Dimes (San Antonio chapter) and also with (Susan G.) Koman (for the Cure), which is for breast cancer awareness. For March of Dimes, I’m their celebrity ambassador, so I get to do a lot of hands-on work with the kids. It’s been really good. They had one of their big walks, and I sang the national anthem and did a signing and meet-and-greet. I walked the event as well. It was a lot of fun. It was a huge success.
Chatter: Now, I’ve heard you’re a country artist now. I don’t remember that from Idol. Why country music?
Haley: While I was working here in San Antonio, when I was younger, everyone gave me the pop stuff — the Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion type of stuff. But I also did a country show and I loved the music, being a country girl, and it just kind of evolved. I didn’t do a whole lot of country on Idol, just because I didn’t want to be known as the country girl so much. I wanted to be able to do other stuff as well. But when I went on tour, I did more country and my fans really did like the country side of me. So I just thought this is who I am now, as I’m getting older. And country nowadays is so cross-over, it’s almost considered pop.
Chatter: Now you released a single, “Girls Night Out,” a while back. Tell me about it.
Haley: It’s a song I co-wrote with a good friend of mine when I was in
Nashville. It was right after I had just broken it off with my fiance and I just wanted a song — not about heartbreak — but just about going out with the girls and having fun, no worries. It turned out to be a really fun song. I perform that a lot live and get very good response from it. Even the guys like that song, which is kind of funny.
Chatter: Now, I also read somewhere you were working on an album called “StrongHeart.” Can you tell me about that?
Haley: That was my old management team. They were wanting me to do
“Strongheart.” I was never really crazy about the title of the album, so I’ve nixed that for now. Just because it’s so cliche. I don’;t know. It reminds me too much of my love interest and stuff like that, and I don’t want that at all right now. I don’t want to be portrayed as that right now.
Chatter: What are you working on instead?
Haley: I’m still writing and working with writers in Nashville. I just cut three new songs with a producer, Fred Mollins, who cut Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter, the duet that they did. He’s cut Collin Raye. He’s awesome, and I had Tim McGraw musicians, the best musicians on these songs. It was such a blast. I’m going back probably the beginning of next year to cut some more with him. There’s a beautiful ballad called “Never Even Cry” that’s going to be on my album. Nashville writers are amazing. I love to write. But then when I hear their songs, I’m like, “I don’t want to put this (song I’ve written) on my album. I want their songs.”
Chatter: Let’s look back at your time on Idol for a while. What was your most memorable moment?
Haley: Oh, my gosh. There were so many. Just the opportunity to meet all the celebrities that come in. That’s such a cool thing that Idol created with that. It gives us an opportunity to meet them and also to learn from them. (For Haley’s full response, check out the audio portion of the interview above.) Those were really good moments. The bad moments were when Simon didn’t know my name and stuff like that. (She laughs).
Chatter: Occasionally Simon was a little rude to you. To what degree does that get to you, when he says things like, “I think you’re following the right strategy, wearing as little as possible?” Those type of comments?
Haley: That kind of stuff didn’t bother me that much, because it was true. With American Idol, they cast the show, basically. They cast their cute boy. They cast the teenage icon boy. They cast the rocker. The country girl. They really do kind of want a cast that will show every audience what they like. I was considered the hottie. And, you know, I’ll take it. Whatever is my gimmick, I’m going to use because you want to stand out on that show and you want to make it as far as you can.
So that wasn’t a big deal. Thanks to Simon for mentioning my legs, I got an offer to be the face for Nair. But it didn’t work out. 19 Management had to turn it down because I was still under contract with them, so that sucked. The opportunities were there. I was just still signed with 19. That was a bummer. I thank Simon for that, for giving me that little gimmick. Hopefully when my album comes out, Nair will want to work with me again. That’s what they said the last time we had contacted them. We’ll see.
The comments were a little harsh because, yes, it is a talent competition. But again, it’s a reality show. There’s a fine line between that and kind of finding your spot in there. And I tried to do the best I could with what I had. (Laughs)
Chatter: Did the nickname “Legs” stick?
Haley: It did. It did. You know, I never knew I had legs like that. And, honestly, I told every girl that would ask, “What do you do?” — put on a pair of shorts and heels and some bronzer and you’ve got it. That’s it. That’s all I did. Makeup does wonders.
Chatter: Now, you’re in the American Christmas show. Why did you become part of that?
Haley: I worked with Joe (Cannizzaro of Chenoa Music, producer of the American Christmas show) for the Christmas album (American Christmas) that he did a year ago. I cut “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” This show, I’m doing that as well as “Joy To the World.” I’m really, really excited. I haven’t met all of the Idols that are on it. So it will be really cool to just meet everybody.
Chatter: Any particularly memorable shows you’ve done since Idol?
Haley: I’ve done a lot of big stuff, but I’ve also done some smaller stuff, more intimate stuff. Sometimes, you can take more out of that because you get to meet more of the people that you’re actually singing for. I’ve pulled kids up on stage with me. That was always a lot of fun. I did a small town out in California and that was really, really cool. They treated me like Celine Deon because they don’t have a whole lot that goes through there. There’s been some moments. Probably I’d say it’s the smaller gigs that I can take more out of.
You can listen to Haley’s “Girls Night Out” below. The Web site mentioned at the end is no longer active. But Haley has a MySpace page you can follow her on.
Meanwhile, here’s the banner showing the other performers who will take the stage as part of the American Christmas show.
And here are links to other interviews in this series
Girls Night Out
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