Education
Later dropped the university out to pursue his music career.
Later dropped the university out to pursue his music career.
While at university Hung auditioned for the third season of American Idol in San Francisco in September 2003.
His hyper-positive declaration of "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all" immediately gave Hung a cult following and mainstream popularity that exceeded most of the winners of American Idol, and transformed other potential contenders into mere footnotes in reality television history in the process. National media appearances and rounds on the talk show circuit soon followed, and at a volleyball game at his alma mater.
William Hung was offered a $25,000 advance on a record deal from Koch Entertainment in 2004, and released three albums on that label in 2004 and 2005. The albums mainly consisted of covers of pop and rock songs, including "She Bangs".
Hung subsequently appeared on several television programs including Jimmy Kimmel Live!, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Entertainment Tonight, George Lopez, the Late Show with David Letterman, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Howard Stern Radio Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dateline NBC, Arrested Development and CBS's The Early Show. Hung was featured in several national magazines and newspapers; he was parodied on Saturday Night Live and appeared on Celebrity Deathmatch. He was reportedly invited to perform at MTV's Asia Awards held in mid-February.