“Dancing with the Stars” Season 7 Cast Announced
The so-called “stars” of the seventh season of ABC’s hit show “Dancing with the Stars” were announced on Monday morning on “Good Morning America.” The stars this season are: Lance Bass, former ‘N Sync singer and actor (paired with Lacey Schwimmer); Toni Braxton, Grammy Award winning singer (paired with Alec Mazo); Brooke Burke, model/TV host (paired with Derek Hough); Rocco DiSpirito, TV chef and cookbook author (paired with Karina Smirnoff); Maurice Greene, Olympic Gold Medal winning sprinter (paired with Cheryl Burke); Kim Kardashian, model, stylist, stolen sex tape star, and reality TV star of E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” (paired with Mark Ballas); Cloris Leachman, Oscar and Emmy winning actress (paired with Corky Ballas); Cody Linley, “Hannah Montana” star (paired with Julianne Hough); Susan Lucci, Daytime Emmy Award winning “All My Children” actress (paired with Tony Dovolani); Misty May-Treanor, Olympic Gold Medal winning volleyball professional (paired with Maksim Chmerkovskiy); Ted McGinley, multiple sitcom actor and JumpTheShark.com “patron saint” (paired with Inna Brayer); Jeffrey Ross, comedian and director (paired with Edyta ?liwi?ska); and Warren Sapp, former NFL player for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Oakland Raiders (paired with Kym Johnson.) Since Bass and Braxton are the only singers competing, I thought I’d give you their Billboard chart history. Let’s face it…Bass doesn’t have a solo career (so far)…so I will concentrate on his work with his former group and their three studio albums (I’m excluding soundtrack and Christmas singles, and I’m only focusing on singles that charted on the Hot 100.) The group’s first album, 1998’s *NSYNC, went Diamond (11x Platinum) and contained four singles: “I Want You Back,” which peaked at #13; “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” which peaked at #59; “God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You,” which peaked at #8; and “Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy),” which peaked at #67. 2000’s No Strings Attached went Diamond (11x Platinum) and contained three singles: “Bye Bye Bye,” which peaked at #4; “It’s Gonna Be Me,” which peaked at #1; and “This I Promise You,” which peaked at #5. 2001’s Celebrity went 5x Platinum and contained three singles: “Pop,” which peaked at #19; “Gone,” which peaked at #11; and “Girlfriend” (remix featuring Nelly), which peaked at #5. Braxton currently has five studio albums with a sixth one possibly coming out by the end of the year. I’m also not including Christmas albums, compilation albums, or soundtrack contributions. I’m also only focusing on singles that charted on the Hot 100. 1993’s Toni Braxton went 8x Platinum and contained four singles: “Another Sad Love Song,” which peaked at #7; “Breathe Again,” which peaked at #3; “You Mean the World to Me,” which peaked at #7; and the double-sided single “I Belong To You”/”How Many Ways,” which peaked at #26. 1996’s Secrets went 8x Platinum and contained three singles: the double-sided single “You’re Makin’ Me High”/”Let It Flow,” which peaked at #1; “Un-Break My Heart,” which peaked at #1; and the double-sided single “I Don’t Want To”/”I Love Me Some Him,” which peaked at #19. 2000’s The Heat went 2x Platinum and contained three singles: “He Wasn’t Man Enough,” which peaked at #2; “Just Be a Man about It,” which peaked at #32; and “Spanish Guitar,” which peaked at #98. 2002’s More Than a Woman went Gold and contained the single “Hit the Freeway” (featuring Loon), which peaked at #86. 2005’s Libra went Gold and contained the single “Please,” which peaked at #104 (“Bubbling Under” at #4.)
I think that Ross will be the first one eliminated, and the final two will either be Bass or one of the sports stars. I’ll be especially interested to see how the 82-year-old Leachman fairs. What do you think about this season’s lineup?