David Archuleta's Voice Coach: "Naomi Judd's accusations untrue."

I just got an e-mail from David Archuleta's voice coach Dean Kaelin that will hopefully put to rest the rumors that have been swirling around regarding David Archuleta's father Mr. Jeff Archuleta. As much as I think that Naomi Judd is entitled to her opinion if Mr. Jeff Archuleta is a stage father or not, what was eye-opening was her confirmation on The Today Show of the "security guard box" incident which started the rumors in the first place. Finally -- and I've been waiting for this for a while -- someone has stepped up to say that Naomi Judd is lying wrong about the security box incident. Dean Kaelin sat with the Archuletas in the audience for every performance during David's stint at Star Search and he says the security guard thing never happened:

Naomi's comment on the Today show that Mr. Jeff Archuleta "had to be put in the security guard's box..." and was a horrible stage dad is totally untrue. Jeff always sat with all the families and other parents in the audience and I have no idea what she could even be referring to.

Okay there you have it.

Updated: Dean Kaelin informed me about some errors in what I have written so I have deleted it. What Naomi Judd said is not true, and we have no idea how she came up with the security box story. Technically she's lying, but Dean doesn't want to go that far.

Here's Dean Kaelin's statement in full:

"I can confidently confirm that none of the accusations about David's dad from Naomi Judd or any of the other sources are true. I have known David and his dad for 6 years and have never seen anything except a concerned, supportive parent. He is definitely involved as he should be and he is very helpful since he is an accomplished musician himself, but I have never seen Jeff be overbearing or put pressure on David. There have been periods of time when I didn't hear from them for 6-12 months as David was having fun just being a normal kid and was taking a break from singing for a while.

I don't know where Naomi Judd comes off talking as the expert when I remember Jeff saying that they never even met the entire time they were on Star Search over the 2 years although they had wanted to meet her and the other judges. I know that David had looked forward to meeting all the judges and specifically her because she was very positiive and nice to him on the show, but due to circumstances like the Iraqi War interrupting the show the night he won, he never did meet her. I also know that unlike Idol, the judges and contestants were never allowed to mingle in any way when David was on Star Search and then the following year I believe they were supposed to meet her after the final show and when they went to her dressing room she had already left, so they never met her face to face ever.

Chikeze was also their roommate in an apartment for several weeks while he was on Idol and he was interviewed and he said he never saw or heard anything and was taken back by the very question even being asked. Also, the girl that was supposedly badgered by Jeff on Star Search told People Magazine that she didn't ever remember even meeting David's dad, but that she liked David, that he didn't have any "drama" and thought that he was great and is cheering for him on Idol.

I think that this clearly is just the media trying to drag up stuff on David since he is such a good kid and they can't find anything scandalous to dig up on him so they are going after his dad.

Naomi's comment on the Today show that Mr. Jeff Archuleta "had to be put in the security guard's box..." and was a horrible stage dad is totally untrue. Jeff always sat with all the families and other parents in the audience and I have no idea what she could even be referring to. I know, I was there at tapings of the show and I never saw anything like that at all. It is also odd that she would make such a bold statement about how she thinks Jeff needs to "leave him alone". Last time I checked she was not a judge on Idol or had anything to do with the show. She even admittedly stated she doesn't even watch the show!! So how could anyone believe that she had any right at all to say anything about David or his dad? I just find it very troubling that she would make such a statement about someone she never met 5 years ago, barely knew David for 5 minutes a show while he was singing and being critiqued, who she also never met, and now 5 years later she seems to feel she has insights into a show she doesn't even watch, people she never met, and is acting as though she has the right to tell his dad to leave him alone. This just doesn't make any sense to me at all.

I have further watched David and his dad interact for years and they are a very good team. Jeff is a jazz trumpet player and as such has a great feel for music in general, but more specifically in creating and building melody lines and arrangements which has been a big help to David since he first started singing. I know Jeff does quite a bit of research in helping screen songs that would be great for David since David does not have as much free time because he has 3 hours of school every day in addition to all the other American Idol activities. Jeff knows what David's voice is capable of better than anyone else, so he is defiinitely able to help him but is definitely not dictating what David should sing. I know, because they call me a lot to discuss the ideas they are kicking around. They sit down together and go through them and see which ones David likes until they feel good about what they think will work best for him. Once they decide on a few songs they start working on them together trying to come up with arrangement ideas, melody alterations and licks. We all work very well together as a team and I have been involved for several years now and have never seen Jeff try and force David into anything or even raise his voice to him. Jeff is a big reason that David's talent and understanding of music and his overall feel and style are so advanced for someone of such a young age. He has been nothing but a supportive and encouraging parent.

I hope that you would put these comments of mine on your site so that fans of David can know the true story and stop believing all the nonsense that they are hearing and reading from the tabloid journalism sources."

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