Antonella Maria Barba (born November 26, 1986) is an American singer who placed sixteenth on the sixth season of American Idol. She was eliminated before the top 12 were chosen.

Biography

Early life

Barba was born in California to parents Vincenzo and Valerie, and raised in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. She went to high school at Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey. Barba is currently in the class of 2008 at The Catholic University of America, and studying Architecture. She has three younger siblings (one brother and two sisters).

Antonella is currently a non-partisan spokesperson for ElectionMall's Voter Space.

American Idol

Antonella Barba was first seen on television at the New York auditions of Idol in a January 2007 episode. She auditioned with her friend Amanda Collucio, after Collucio sang her rendition of Patsy Cline's "Crazy" Barba took center stage and belted out a smooth performance of Deniece Williams' "Free." Paula dubbed Antonella "fantastic" and Simon advised her "when someone is down on the floor kick them". Nevertheless, the judges praised her performance and liked it better than her friend's who had claimed she had vocal lessons, eventually both received golden ticket passes to Hollywood. Barba made it into the top 24 but her friend was cut before the top 40.

Controversy

Barba received notoriety beyond the show when a series of racy photographs surfaced on the Internet prior to the final twelve contestants being chosen. These included photos of her posing in a wet t-shirt in the fountain of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.. She was quoted as saying that they "were photos of my personal life that got exploited without my consent." These pictures have received mainstream attention including a February 27, 2007 featured article in USA Today, a full segment on the February 26, 2007 edition of FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor, and also on multiple episodes of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, both of which showed images of the Vote for the Worst pages featuring the images.