Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson had the distinction of being the first winner of the hit show “American Idol.” Kelly was born in Forth Worth, Texas and decided she wanted to become a singer at the young age of 13. She sang “Vision of Love” in a high school show and soon after, began classical training.

Kelly decided to forgo college for a musical career. Working odd jobs, her big break came in 2002 when friends encouraged her to audition for the new reality show, “American Idol.” The judges were impressed with her voice and she quickly earned a place with the top 30 finalists. She took on powerhouse songs like Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and Celine Dion’s “I Surrender” with much success. Kelly found herself and fellow contestant Justin Guarini in the finals. She received 58% of the vote and she was named the first American Idol on September 4, 2002. On September 11, 2002, Kelly performed at the Washington D.C. Lincoln Memorial. Her first hit “A Moment Like This” was released that October and it quickly rose from #52 to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Kelly was contractually obligated to appear in a movie titled From Justin to Kelly with runner-up Justin Guarini. The movie was a box office flop, but Kelly didn’t have to worry about a movie career as her music career was about to become very hot. Her first full-length album Thankful was released in the spring of 2003. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 chard and went on to sell two million copies by the end of that year. It has currently sold over three million copies. Her second hit off the album, Miss Independent, reached the top ten in both American and Canada and earned her a Grammy nomination for “Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.”

Many critics said Kelly’s success was due primarily to her “American Idol” popularity. She wanted to distance herself from the show and did so with the fall 2004 release of her album Breakaway . It was far more successful than her first album, becoming one of only four in history to remain on the Billboard 200 Top 20 for a consecutive year. It went on to sell over 11 million copies. She won two American Music Awards (including Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist), the 2005 AOL Artist of the Year award, 11 Billboard Music awards, and two Grammys (for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album).

For her third album, Kelly wrote or co-wrote every song. The album, My December, is a bit darker than her previous efforts and it was reported that the head of Sony-BMG, Clive Davis, was not happy with the album. He wanted her to make changes, but she refused. Kelly later said that Davis thought the album was too negative and dark and wanted to hold its release.

Controversy ensued as Kelly fired her manager and cancelled her concert tour. She has since hired Reba McEntire’s husband Narvel Blackstock, as her manager and they are considering rescheduling tour dates in smaller venues. This album has generally received good reviews and while it has been surrounded with controversy, Kelly is proud of the album and hopefully she will continue to produce quality work in the future.

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