LOS ANGELES — Miley Cyrus: bigger than the Boss, da Bears and Barnum & Bailey?
It's true. The Hannah Montana star's concert tour, which kicks off Thursday, is the most requested event at Ticketmaster this quarter, beating out such acts as Bruce Springsteen, the Chicago Bears and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The 56-city tour is of course fueled by the success of her Disney Channel TV show, Hannah Montana, in which she plays a normal kid who lives a secret life as a pop star. It's the No. 1 series for kids 6 to 11 and 9 to 14. A feature film version is to begin shooting in early 2008, with the series' Season 4 likely to follow.
All this at only age 14.
Her dad, country star Billy Ray Cyrus, totally gets it. "(Kids) see Miley and think 'She's like me.' She's so real — what you see is what you get. She grew up on a tour bus and knows about thanking her fans. She truly has music in her heart."
Unlike some teen stars, Miley doesn't have that growing-up-too-fast aura about her. She's still afraid of fireworks, plays practical jokes on her tour mates and obsesses over what to wear for Halloween.
The people she admires — Hilary Duff and Kelly Clarkson — are the same as others her age.
For her, a highlight of touring is eating in restaurants. "We go to Cracker Barrel, which is my favorite, and Long John Silver's," she says. "I don't eat meat, but I love their fish and their hush puppies. I'll eat eight buckets."
She'll have no trouble burning off the calories. For the tour, called Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds, she'll perform as both herself and as Hannah. And the popular Jonas Brothers will be along for the ride as well.
With Dad touring through Nov. 25 for his Home At Last album, Miley will be accompanied by Billy Ray's brother, Mick, who is her tour manager, as well as mom Tish, sister Noah, 6, grandmother Loretta and two of the family's five dogs. (Dad takes the family's German shepherd on the road with him.)
"She's surrounded by a lot of people who love her," says Billy Ray, which is why he believes his daughter will not go the way of other wayward Hollywood teens. "She's going to make mistakes, but she has a great heart and a good head on her shoulders."
And she realizes there's one thing she's going to need: sleep.
"Otherwise, your voice will be shot after singing for two hours every night and maybe getting three hours of sleep," she says.
Her family isn't all that surprised Miley is a success. Dad recalls her stage debut: She was 2 when she rushed on to a Memphis stage where he was performing Amazing Grace with other music legends.
"She ended up in Tony Bennett's arms," Billy Ray says. "Tony handed her back to me and said, 'She's going to be a big star some day.' "
Source: USA Today
Posted on 19 Oct 2007
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