IN: Phillips was born in Albany, Georgia, to Sheryl (Jacks) and Phillip LaDon "Donnie" Phillips, Sr., and moved to Leesburg, Georgia when he was 12. He has two older sisters, LaDonna, the eldest, and Lacey. Phillips grew up in Sasser and Leesburg, and attended Lee County High School. He graduated from Albany Technical College with a major in Industrial Systems Technology, but missed the graduation ceremony due to his obligations to American Idol.

After winning American Idol, Phillips went on the American Idol LIVE Tour from July to September with the rest of the Top 10 finishers of season 11. He performed the National Anthem at the opening game of the 2012 World Series on October 24, 2012. On November 15, he joined forces with the PS22 chorus of Staten Island for a concert to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Sandy. He also performed at the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on December 6, 2012.  Phillips' coronation song, "Home," was a great success with sales of over 5 million copies in the US. It has been used in NBC's coverage of the Olympics, L.A. Marathon, various commercials, film trailers, and TV shows. He performed "Home" on the PBS Independence Day celebration TV special, A Capitol 4th. He appeared at the 83rd MLB All-Star Game held at Kansas City on July 10 and sang his coronation song. On October 9, 2012, he joined other musicians in the One World concert held in Syracuse University to honor the Dalai Lama. He also performed "Home" on the CNN Heroes special aired on December 2, 2012, and the CBS's A Home for the Holidays on December 19, 2012.  Phillip has performed on The Today Show and Good Morning America Concert Series, Late Show with David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live With Kelly, The View, Conan. He has also appeared on the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.  Phillip Phillips made the Forbes Highest Earning American Idol list each of the three years he was qualified. For the list published in January 2014 and January 2015, he ranked #3. For the list published January 2016, he ranked #4

When did his music career begin?

OUT: winning American Idol,


IN: Sherman was born in Chicago, to Percy Copelon and Rose Sherman. Percy was an auto mechanic and race car driver who, like his son, suffered from obesity (he weighed over 350 pounds), and died while attempting a 100-day diet. His family was Jewish. Sherman's parents divorced when he was in grade school, and the son adopted his mother's maiden name.

Sherman devised a game show he intended to call I Know a Secret. Television producer Mark Goodson used Sherman's idea and turned it into I've Got a Secret, which ran on CBS from 1952 to 1967. Rather than paying him for the concept, Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions made Sherman the show's producer. Sherman was reported to be warm and kindhearted to all who worked for him. However, differences occurred between Sherman and anyone who was in a position to try to restrain his creativity. As producer of I've Got a Secret, which was broadcast live, he showed a fondness for large-scale stunts that had the potential to teeter on the brink of disaster. He once released 100 rabbits onstage as an Easter surprise for the Madison Square Boys Club, whose members were seated in the studio. The boys were invited to come up onstage to collect their prize. Although the resultant melee made a good story, it did not necessarily make for good TV.  The relationship between Goodson, Todman and Sherman became strained when he proposed that Tony Curtis teach the panel how to play some games he had played as a child growing up in New York City. However, Curtis had never actually played any of the games that Sherman had brought the props for. The props for Sherman's concept failed and the spot, which aired June 11, 1958, was a disaster and Sherman was removed as producer. Despite this, Goodson and Todman invited Sherman back several times as a guest on their shows in later years after he achieved celebrity status following the release of his albums.  Sherman also produced a short-lived 1954 game show, What's Going On?, which was technologically ambitious, with studio guests interacting with multiple live cameras in remote locations. In 1961, he produced a daytime game show for Al Singer Productions called Your Surprise Package, which aired on CBS with host George Fenneman.

Did any of his stunts end in disaster?

OUT: The boys were invited to come up onstage to collect their prize. Although the resultant melee made a good story, it did not necessarily make for good TV.


IN: Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 - April 6, 1862) served as a general in three different armies: the Texian (i.e. Republic of Texas) Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, fighting actions in the Black Hawk War, Texas War of Independence, the Mexican-American War, the Utah War, and the American Civil War. Considered by Confederate States President Jefferson Davis to be the finest general officer in the Confederacy before the later emergence of Robert E. Lee, he was killed early in the Civil War at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862.

Johnston had various remaining military units scattered throughout his territory and retreating to the south to avoid being cut off. Johnston himself retreated with the force under his personal command, the Army of Central Kentucky, from the vicinity of Nashville. With Beauregard's help, Johnston decided to concentrate forces with those formerly under Polk and now already under Beauregard's command at the strategically located railroad crossroads of Corinth, Mississippi, which he reached by a circuitous route. Johnston kept the Union forces, now under the overall command of the ponderous Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, confused and hesitant to move, allowing Johnston to reach his objective undetected. This delay allowed Jefferson Davis finally to send reinforcements from the garrisons of coastal cities and another highly rated but prickly general, Braxton Bragg, to help organize the western forces. Bragg at least calmed the nerves of Beauregard and Polk who had become agitated by their apparent dire situation in the face of numerically superior forces before the arrival of Johnston on March 24, 1862.  Johnston's army of 17,000 men gave the Confederates a combined force of about 40,000 to 44,669 men at Corinth. On March 29, 1862, Johnston officially took command of this combined force, which continued to use the Army of the Mississippi name under which it had been organized by Beauregard on March 5.  Johnston now planned to defeat the Union forces piecemeal before the various Union units in Kentucky and Tennessee under Grant with 40,000 men at nearby Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, and the now Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell on his way from Nashville with 35,000 men, could unite against him. Johnston started his army in motion on April 3, 1862, intent on surprising Grant's force as soon as the next day, but they moved slowly due to their inexperience, bad roads and lack of adequate staff planning. Due to the delays, as well as several contacts with the enemy, Johnston's second in command, P. G. T. Beauregard, felt the element of surprise had been lost and recommended calling off the attack. Johnston decided to proceed as planned, stating "I would fight them if they were a million." His army was finally in position within a mile or two of Grant's force, and undetected, by the evening of April 5, 1862.

Where did he have these units?

OUT:
Johnston's army of 17,000 men gave the Confederates a combined force of about 40,000 to 44,669 men at Corinth.