Songwriter Solomon Finds Depth, Soul in Jewish Roots

Songwriter Sheppard Solomon won’t be watching the eighth season of “American Idol” now in full swing, even though the singing contest has gotten him a lot of work. His latest single, “Feels Like Tonight,” performed by “Idol’s” fifth-season finalist, Chris Daughtry, reached the top of the charts last year, helping the show’s most successful rockster clinch the best band award at the American Music Awards. Sheppard has also written album tracks for “Idol” winners and finalists Kelly Clarkson, David Cook and David Archuleta, not to mention artists who made it the old-fashioned way: Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias and Paris Hilton.

Solomon, a 39-year-old Jewish bachelor, nevertheless said the singing contest bores him, and it reflects the aspects of the mainstream music business he finds disillusioning.

“It’s become more about the wrong things,” he said in an interview at his home in the Hollywood Hills. “That’s why people don’t buy records. They don’t feel attached. It’s not real. It’s more plastic. People like Elton John, Bob Dylan, Sting, Jim Morrison — they were real artists with points of view.”

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