{"id":435861,"date":"2026-01-27T06:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435861\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T06:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:09:09","slug":"american-idol-honors-robin-kaye-in-premiere-save-you-a-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435861\/","title":{"rendered":"‘American Idol’ honors Robin Kaye in premiere \u2013 ‘Save you a seat’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“American Idol” paid tribute to one of its own, Robin Kaye<\/a>, as the ABC competition show returned for a new season.<\/p>\n

“Season 24 of American Idol: Dedicated to Robin Kaye,” read an onscreen graphic that kicked off the show’s premiere episode, which aired Monday, Jan. 26. “We’ll save you a seat.”<\/p>\n

Kaye, who was a longtime music supervisor for the show, and her husband, Tom Deluca, both 70, were found dead in their home last year.<\/p>\n

At about 2:30 p.m. on July 14, officers conducted a welfare check at the couple’s house following a report from a person who “had not heard from the resident for several days,” the\u00a0Los Angeles Police Department said<\/a>. Officers later entered the residence and discovered two bodies, later identified as Kaye and Deluca.<\/p>\n

\"Robin<\/p>\n

Robin Kaye, “American Idol’s” longtime music supervisor, was found dead alongside her husband Tom Deluca in their Encino, California, home in July 2024.<\/p>\n

The LAPD said the couple died from “multiple gunshot wounds.”<\/p>\n

The suspect in the case, Raymond Boodarian<\/a>, 22, faces two counts of murder and one count of first-degree residential burglary, with the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and murder during the commission of a burglary, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced in a July 17 news release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If convicted on all charges, Boodarian faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or death, according to the district attorney’s office.<\/p>\n

According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department records, Boodarian was released to custody in a forensic psychiatric hospital in Bernardino County on Jan. 13, following several competency hearings. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge in December ordered Boodarian to be committed to the state hospital, LA County Deputy Public Defender Nancy Kolocotronis confirmed to USA TODAY.<\/p>\n

A status update hearing is scheduled for March 19, the district attorney’s office told USA TODAY on Jan. 26.<\/p>\n

‘American Idol’ winners by year \u2013 see all the champions since 2002<\/p>\n

1 of 12<\/p>\n

Who was Robin Kaye?<\/p>\n

Kaye began her 16-year stint as “Idol’s” music supervisor in Season 8, which crowned Kris Allen as the winner in 2009. She worked in the role, which entails clearing music for use on the competition show, through most of Season 23, which crowned\u00a0Jamal Roberts<\/a>\u00a0as the winner on May 18.<\/p>\n

She is also credited as the music supervisor for the NAACP Image Awards and several Miss Universe pageants, most recently in 2023.<\/p>\n

Kaye has received several accolades, including the Guild of Music Supervisors’ best music supervision in reality television award\u00a0in 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We are devastated to hear of Robin and her dear husband, Tom\u2019s, passing,” a spokesperson for “Idol” said in a statement to USA TODAY last year. “Robin has been a cornerstone of the Idol family since 2009 and was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her. Robin will remain in our hearts forever, and we share our deepest sympathy with her family and friends during this difficult time.”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who is Robin Kaye? ‘American Idol’ premiere paid tribute to staffer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“American Idol” paid tribute to one of its own, Robin Kaye, as the ABC competition show returned for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[350,49,48,75,55718,181050,181049,181051,181048,348],"class_list":["post-435861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-american-idol","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-los-angeles-police-department","tag-music-supervisor","tag-raymond-boodarian","tag-residential-burglary","tag-tom-deluca","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}