Life after Idol

The morning after being voted off America’s most popular reality show, Milwaukee’s Danny Gokey was already planning his next steps — and they don’t involve his music.

“During this competition, I have not really put my hands into Sophia’s Heart Foundation,” the 29-year-old “American Idol” finalist said in a telephone conference with reporters Thursday. “Right off the bat, I’m gonna call my team, we’re gonna start having meetings. I want to define our goals.

“This foundation means so much to me — it is the legacy of my wife and myself here on the Earth,” he said. “I have a lot of open doors, and I’m going to walk through those doors.”

Gokey set up the foundation — www.sophiasheart.org — last year in memory of his wife, Sophia, who died last summer during heart surgery. His goal for the organization is broad, and he sees his music and even a possible line of eyeglasses as supporting the group.

While Gokey has yet to sign a record deal, radio programming professionals suggest he could find success as an adult contemporary artist. So far, though, he’s not concentrating on commercial success.

In the conference call Thursday, in which reporters were interested in his opinions on “Idol’s” final two, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, and on reliving the screech that ended his performance of “Dream On” last week, Gokey emphasized the foundation as the focus of his future.

“The dream that I have inside my music is to revolutionize the culture, to change people’s hearts,” he said. “I see … opening up concerts with possibly following the story of a young kid, whose father was maybe killed in a gang and his mother is a drug addict and kind of watching his life … and how Sophia’s Heart Foundation has impacted that kid.

“I want to entertain people, but at the same time … I want them to come out of their zone for a bit, and out of their problems, and have a perspective of looking at someone else’s problems and watching people overcoming.”

But what kind of music is Danny Gokey’s music?

After all, his fans know him mainly from the songs he sang within the genres that formed each week’s lineup on “Idol.”

“I want to mix a very soulful album with nice beats, like nice R&B beats, beats that get people’s heads moving, and mix it with a hint of a Latin vibe,” he said. “I was with my wife for 12 years, and she was Puerto Rican, and I’m so into salsa and merengue and all the Spanish music. And I want to mix it in one arena — that’s what I want to do.”

At first glance, the devoutly Christian singer might seem a prime candidate to launch a career in contemporary Christian music. But after making the first group of finalists in Fox’s singing competition, he seemed to put the kibosh on that.

“I can just be a Christian who sings mainstream music instead of having to be a Christian who has to somehow just sing Christian music,” he said.

So where does Gokey’s style take him in the music business?

After the infamous “final note” on Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” and with his nice-guy image, he’s not likely to become a hard-rocker. And at 29, he’s a bit old to reach the teen audience.

But the folks who program Milwaukee’s music stations see a few places where Gokey could work his way up the charts, with airplay driving music sales.

“I have no doubt that at the time Danny releases his music, a pop song, I feel like it would definitely end up on our playlist,” said Tony Lorino, music director at WMYX-FM, which plays the adult contemporary format Gokey’s likely to find a home in.