I just got an e-mail from David Archuleta’s voice coach Dean Kaelin that will hopefully put to rest the rumors that have been swirling around regarding David Archuleta’s father Mr. Jeff Archuleta. As much as I think that Naomi Judd is entitled to her opinion if Mr. Jeff Archuleta is a stage father or not, what was eye-opening was her confirmation on The Today Show of the “security guard box” incident which started the rumors in the first place. Finally — and I’ve been waiting for this for a while — someone has stepped up to say that Naomi Judd is lying wrong about the security box incident. Dean Kaelin sat with the Archuletas in the audience for every performance during David’s stint at Star Search and he says the security guard thing never happened:
[quote] Naomi’s comment on the Today show that Mr. Jeff Archuleta “had to be put in the security guard’s box…” and was a horrible stage dad is totally untrue. Jeff always sat with all the families and other parents in the audience and I have no idea what she could even be referring to. [/quote]
Okay there you have it.
Updated: Dean Kaelin informed me about some errors in what I have written so I have deleted it. What Naomi Judd said is not true, and we have no idea how she came up with the security box story. Technically she’s lying, but Dean doesn’t want to go that far.
Here’s Dean Kaelin’s statement in full:
“I can confidently confirm that none of the accusations about David’s dad from Naomi Judd or any of the other sources are true. I have known David and his dad for 6 years and have never seen anything except a concerned, supportive parent. He is definitely involved as he should be and he is very helpful since he is an accomplished musician himself, but I have never seen Jeff be overbearing or put pressure on David. There have been periods of time when I didn’t hear from them for 6-12 months as David was having fun just being a normal kid and was taking a break from singing for a while.
I don’t know where Naomi Judd comes off talking as the expert when I remember Jeff saying that they never even met the entire time they were on Star Search over the 2 years although they had wanted to meet her and the other judges. I know that David had looked forward to meeting all the judges and specifically her because she was very positiive and nice to him on the show, but due to circumstances like the Iraqi War interrupting the show the night he won, he never did meet her. I also know that unlike Idol, the judges and contestants were never allowed to mingle in any way when David was on Star Search and then the following year I believe they were supposed to meet her after the final show and when they went to her dressing room she had already left, so they never met her face to face ever.
Chikeze was also their roommate in an apartment for several weeks while he was on Idol and he was interviewed and he said he never saw or heard anything and was taken back by the very question even being asked. Also, the girl that was supposedly badgered by Jeff on Star Search told People Magazine that she didn’t ever remember even meeting David’s dad, but that she liked David, that he didn’t have any “drama” and thought that he was great and is cheering for him on Idol.
I think that this clearly is just the media trying to drag up stuff on David since he is such a good kid and they can’t find anything scandalous to dig up on him so they are going after his dad.
Naomi’s comment on the Today show that Mr. Jeff Archuleta “had to be put in the security guard’s box…” and was a horrible stage dad is totally untrue. Jeff always sat with all the families and other parents in the audience and I have no idea what she could even be referring to. I know, I was there at tapings of the show and I never saw anything like that at all. It is also odd that she would make such a bold statement about how she thinks Jeff needs to “leave him alone”. Last time I checked she was not a judge on Idol or had anything to do with the show. She even admittedly stated she doesn’t even watch the show!! So how could anyone believe that she had any right at all to say anything about David or his dad? I just find it very troubling that she would make such a statement about someone she never met 5 years ago, barely knew David for 5 minutes a show while he was singing and being critiqued, who she also never met, and now 5 years later she seems to feel she has insights into a show she doesn’t even watch, people she never met, and is acting as though she has the right to tell his dad to leave him alone. This just doesn’t make any sense to me at all.
I have further watched David and his dad interact for years and they are a very good team. Jeff is a jazz trumpet player and as such has a great feel for music in general, but more specifically in creating and building melody lines and arrangements which has been a big help to David since he first started singing. I know Jeff does quite a bit of research in helping screen songs that would be great for David since David does not have as much free time because he has 3 hours of school every day in addition to all the other American Idol activities. Jeff knows what David’s voice is capable of better than anyone else, so he is defiinitely able to help him but is definitely not dictating what David should sing. I know, because they call me a lot to discuss the ideas they are kicking around. They sit down together and go through them and see which ones David likes until they feel good about what they think will work best for him. Once they decide on a few songs they start working on them together trying to come up with arrangement ideas, melody alterations and licks. We all work very well together as a team and I have been involved for several years now and have never seen Jeff try and force David into anything or even raise his voice to him. Jeff is a big reason that David’s talent and understanding of music and his overall feel and style are so advanced for someone of such a young age. He has been nothing but a supportive and encouraging parent.
I hope that you would put these comments of mine on your site so that fans of David can know the true story and stop believing all the nonsense that they are hearing and reading from the tabloid journalism sources.”
Poll: David vs. Clay vs. Taylor vs. Sanjaya (Clay is winning!)
95 Comments for David Archuleta’s Voice Coach: “Naomi Judd’s accusations untrue.”
Yay!!!
It still doesn’t answer why Naomi Judd would go out of her way to say those things (if they were, in fact, untrue). On the other hand David A’s coach has every reason to back Jeff A up.
I want a neutral Star Search judge/insider to give us the scoop on whether or not Jeff IS a stagedad and whether or now Naomi IS lying. Then maybe we can reach some conclusions.
Who cares about Naomi Judd anyway?
Yay for Dean Kaelin! Glad he spoke up.
Why on earth would she stick her neck out there and say such horrible things, then? I need an explanation.
BBGirl,
just so you know, someone who produced StarSearch all those years ago did step up weeks ago to say that the rumors weren’t true. I don’t remember details, but I do remember the report.
What’s that saying about not biting the hand that feeds you….????
Hopefully, putting this thing to rest.
Rickey…
Tx for trying to make things better. That’s the rickey we fell in love with.
There is neutral verification. This was posted on Rickey’s over a month ago, a re-post from another board:
“ET has usually been pretty fair and accurate in their reports, but I have personal knowledge about this situation and don’t feel right about letting a family be dragged through the dirt when I know that the story may be greatly exaggerated if not completely bogus.
I worked on the show when David was on Star Search when he won the show, then when he did the Battle of Champions, David, Tiffany and Mark, the 3 winners of the first “seasons” of the show all competed together. This is supposedly where he was banned from the set and threatened Tiffany and treated everyone badly. Then the next year David and dad were part of the Season4 Winner’s Circle. If this would have happened, I would have known about it and would not be here commenting right now. When Tiffany won, David and Mark were totally happy for her as were both sets of parents, they weren’t able to talk to each other until after the show was over because the show kept them all in separate areas for the few days they were there so everyone could just focus on their own child. There is no way that a father of one child could have “cornered” a child because the parents were always in the area their child was at and they were always kept apart. The kids were together for school but that was about it.
Furthermore, David and his father came back the next season to be the Season 4 and CBS would have never allowed this if his dad had threatened a child. This is just not consistent in any way with what I saw while I worked on the show for 2 years. David, who is one of the nicest kids I’ve ever met and I don’t believe for a minute that his parents would have treated him or Tiffany the way the gossip sites have stated. Shame on you ET and the other sites that have published this false report, it is pure garbage.
Report
By JKProductions on 03/14/2008 at 4:03am”
Personally, I think that where there is smoke there is fire. The question is how much fire and is it burning anyone. My sense in this situation (and it’s just a sense, nothing more) is that Dad is probably a garden-variety, pain-in-the butt stage parent type, that protective maternal types probably cringe occasionally on behalf of David, and that at the end of the day, it’s all par for the course.
Hi Jos>
Isn’t it a fun day today!!!!
thanks Rickey. thanks voice coach too! That Naomi should better shut her mouth! what she was saying was completely irrelevant. duh!
Naomi is just missing the attention these days.
Yes, ml, YES! and just think It’s Almost Tuesday!
Jeff Archuleta is a mob kingpin that will destroy your whole family if you speak bad about him or his kids.
Jeff Archuleta doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants
Thanks, Rickey! And not to cause you any more grief, but it might be better if you used an actual quote from the voice coach. Your header makes it look like Dean used those very words, which are much more inflammatory than the words he actually did use to defend Jeff Archuleta. I’m really glad Dean came forth, for while I didn’t pay much heed to what Naomi said, it is only right that someone besides Jeff defend himself against such accusations. In other words, I am pleased that Jeff did not dignify the rumors with a response. He was in a no-win situation anyway. So, thanks, Dean! Give Archie a hug for us all, will you?
If you want a list of Jeff Archuleta’s enemies, just check the extinct species list.
Jeff Archuleta eats transformer toys in vehicle mode and poops them out transformed into a robots
Amen. Can we please move onto more important things…
like DA for TMFW!!!!
Jeff Archuleta is Luke Skywalker’s real father.
Jeff Archuleta invented the Sun.
I’ve seen several interviews with Dean Kaelin on TV. He comes off like such a normal and sincere guy. He’s a renowned vocal coach who has had many many clients.
He has traveled extensively to coach young and seasoned singers worldwide. The Archuletas are not his only client (albeit now his most famous).
I must say though that Rickey.org (and that infamous blog on Friday) must be quite a lightning rod in the internet world for Dean to take the time to write in and tell his perspective.
Rickey, however, is misquoting Dean. Dean has never in his letter claimed that “Naomi Judd is lying.” He simply just questioned why she would say the things she said. So, Rickey, once again… You have to be careful with what you say and quote.
Thank you, Heavyblow.
I found this particularly “WACKY” quote from Naomi Jugg:
“I got to hang out with a bunch of physicists. I know it’s almost laughable–the hillbilly and the geniuses–but one of the first things I learned from my physicist friends and from some of the really hard-nosed scientists is that one of the immutable laws of physics states that energy can’t be created or destroyed. And that tells me that everything is energy. If you want to get technical about it, or scientific, it means that we are electrobiomagnetic energy force fields, and we are recyclable.”
And boy is she every right////ENERGY CAN’T BE DESTROYED! So all you Archies (AKA electrobiomagnetic energy force fields) let’s get together and make this thing happen.
Thanks for stepping up to the plate on this one Rickey (and Dean).
Well – sorry. Sounds like damage control from the vocal coach.
smelly shmelly
And who are you to say that??? I guess you and Ms. psychojudd should go out together.
I believe there is a FINE line for encouragement and abuse. Shallow people seems to obfuscate these two terms. What a pity.
Naomi Judd is clearly a furtive, tactless, classless celebrity who needs to shut up and look at her own family instead.
Miss Scarlett and heavyblow: I love inflammatory headlines!
If Dean Kaelin said that it never happened, then Naomi Judd is lying. It’s all wrong? … but it’s all right! (Singing that by the way, LOL)
What matters to me is that someone who was actually there has said something about what Naomi Judd said regarding the security box story. “Stage Dad” is an opinion, but saying something happened or not is another issue.
I agree with you Heavyblow. Maybe Rickey is referring to this ……. was a horrible stage dad was completely untrue. He should have used the untrue word. lol
I don’t think Naomi was lying. She just got confused about the times when she was put in the security box.
And UK, thanks for living up to my prediction that you would totally discredit this. Dean is a lying enabler and we are all putting our heads in the sand about the horrible abuse going on. How many refutations do you all need?
Do you think also the little girl that he supposedly harrassed is lying? She has said it didn’t happen. It is just as damaging to imply abuse where it doesn’t exist as to ignore abuse where it does.
And I’m so glad smelly schmelly is here to show the general IQ level of those who listen to and believe gossip.