Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson- Before American Idol

Kelly Clarkson was born on April 24, 1982. Raised in Texas, Kelly had no formal training as a singer until she joined the school choir in middle school. That was late compared to most singers. According to Clarkson, her aspirations were to become a marine biologist and by chance, a teacher heard her singing in the hall and convinced her to join the choir.

Kelly, a natural talent, learned the specifics of choral singing very quickly. She then decided to pursue a singing career and after graduating high school, she headed to Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, Kelly tried shopping around a demo album while doing odd jobs. An unfortunate incident arose when her apartment building burned down, leaving her with nothing. She was forced to move back to Texas where she worked as a waitress and telemarketer while competing in local singing competitions.

The Big Music Break

Kelly wasn’t doing too well with her would-be singing career when her friend Jessica suggested she try out for a new television series, “American Idol”. At the time, no one had heard of the show and Kelly only did it for fun. Much to her surprise, she made it through the first round and was sent back to California.

Over the next several months, Clarkson continued to rise up the talent show’s ladder. She continuously received steady votes from the viewers and managed to stay out of the bottom three during the entire run of the show. In the summer of 2002, Clarkson beat runner-up Justin Guarini and became the first American Idol. She received 58% of the audience’s vote and would go on to great success. Guarini, however, released an album with little fanfare and has all but disappeared from the public eye.

Recording Career

Per her agreement with the show “American Idol”, Kelly was awarded a major recording contract. Her debut album, coinciding with the second season of American Idol, was released in 2003. It was entitled Thankful and quickly rose to platinum status. The same year brought Kelly’s movie debut, with the musical From Justin to Kelly. The film was in and out of theaters in two weeks and has since been referred to as one of the worst films ever made. However, Kelly made critics do a double take when she avoided the sophomore slump with her 2004 album, Breakaway. It sold even better than the first and helped to separate her name from “contest winner” to “pop star”. Kelly caused a small controversy in early 2006 after refusing to let current contestants on "American Idol" sing her songs.

Accolades for Kelly Clarkson

There have been numerous nominations for Kelly including Grammy Awards, Billboard Awards, Radio Music Awards, and MTV Music Video Awards. In 2005 alone, she won the following: Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist- American Music Award, Pop 100 Artist of the Year- Billboard Music Award, Best Female Video- MTV Video Music Award, Favorite Female Performer- People’s Choice Award, and Artist of the Year- Radio Music Award.