Brentwood resident takes a chance at Idol

At age three, Brentwood’s Ashley Mendez knew that she wanted to become a singer. She practiced everyday throughout her life and at the young age of 14, Mendez, known by her fans as just Ashley, started singing professionally. After performing at several local and Bay Area and touring Paris and London, Mendez came back to the United States for her chance to audition for the television show the American Idol.
Mendez didn’t get the chance to make it all the way to the television finals, but she did get the chance to compete in both San Francisco and Hollywood.
“We started in San Francisco and auditioned with 5,000 other people and I was so excited to make it to the Hollywood auditions. It was a wonderful experience,” Mendez said.
While Mendez wishes she had done better than being in to top 75 for the West Coast region, she feels the experience was really worth the effort. “While we were auditioning Paula Abdul said you never know who’s going to be watching, so I’m hoping there will be more to come from the experience,” she said.
Mendez said that a lot of film footage was taken at the auditions and that during the first few shows producers of American Idol plan to run some of the clips. “I’m sure I’m going to be on television as well, which would be great because it would give me another chance to be seen,” she said.
Doing the auditions for American Idol was just part of Mendez’s plans to realize her dream of becoming a singer. At 25 years old, Mendez has already accomplished a great deal since she first started playing at fairs and other venues at 14. She has been busy singing at nightclubs throughout San Francisco, the Bay Area and Los Angeles, she even had the opportunity to sing at a few major league baseball games. She also spent some time spanning the globe and singing her R and B and pop songs in Paris and London clubs.
From her time in Paris she was contracted with a record label, called MAJH Productions and offered the chance to work on an album. That deal is currently in progress and should be out soon. Mendez said that she is currently working on writing the music for the upcoming album, as well as the upcoming shows she already has planned for the San Francisco area.
Mendez says she makes singing and songwriting her number one priority and will continue to take every opportunity to go as far as she can in her career. She may even have the chance again to audition for American Idol and do better next time.