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| Birth Name(s) : Kelly Brianne Clarkson |
Date of Birth: April 24, 1982 |
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| Profession:
Actor/Musician |
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Full Kelly Clarkson Biography
The winner of Fox TV's first American Idol: The Search for a Superstar competition, during the summer of 2002 Kelly Clarkson went from an anonymous talent to a nationally known singer performing for an audience of millions of viewers. One of the show's most naturally gifted singers, the 20 year-old Burleson, TX native's vocal talents were discovered when she was in seventh grade, when her school's choir teacher heard her singing and urged Clarkson to join the choir. After high school, Clarkson cultivated her voice and went to Hollywood to make her name; she appeared as an extra on an episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch but no other opportunities materialized. Upon returning to Burleson, Clarkson worked at a movie theater, promoted Red Bull energy drinks and ultimately worked as a cocktail waitress at a comedy club before entering the American Idol contest.
One of 10,000 aspiring singers, Clarkson distinguished herself not only with her big, surprisingly mature voice, but also with her down-to-earth charm and sense of humor: at one of her auditions, she switched places with judge Randy Jackson, who did an impromptu version of R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly." Over the course of the 13-week show, her consistently strong performances of songs like "Respect," "Natural Woman," "Stuff Like That There" and "Without You" earned Clarkson enough audience votes to claim one of the contest's two finalist positions. After singing "A Moment Like This" and "Before Your Love," both of which were written for the show, Clarkson won the American Idol contest with 58 percent of the audience's votes.
In addition to the show's prize of a $1 million recording contract with RCA, Clarkson secured a deal with Creative Artists Agency and several bookings, including the national American Idol tour and a performance of the national anthem at the September 11 commemoration at Washington, DC's Lincoln Memorial. Despite her newfound fame, Clarkson opted to remain in Texas rather than move to New York or Los Angeles. Her first single, A Moment Like This, was released just two weeks after she won the contest and quickly earned platinum sales. Clarkson's self-titled full-length album -- which was rumored to include a duet with the contest's runner-up, curly-haired heartthrob Justin Guarini -- was released in spring of 2003, just in time to coincide with the second season of American Idol and right before the American Idol movie, From Justin to Kelly. |
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Additional Kelly Clarkson Biography
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American pop rock singer. Clarkson made her debut under RCA Records after she won the highly publicized first season of the television series American Idol in 2002. She was originally marketed as a pop musician with her debut album Thankful (2003). With the release of her multi-platinum second album Breakaway (2004), Clarkson moved to a more pop rock-oriented style of music, and won two Grammy Awards. Clarkson's third album, entitled My December, was released on June 26, 2007. Clarkson has sold 16 million albums worldwide.
While growing up, Clarkson's family had a hard time financially and often argued about money. From this experience, Clarkson learned to be financially responsible and independent at an early age. She experienced two sets of parental divorces, the first at age 6 and the second at age 19. Music became her refuge after the first divorce, but she didn't embrace it as her salvation until her teens. Clarkson first decided to become a singer when she was 13. She sang Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" at her high school show, after which a gentleman shared some inspiring words with her: "God has given you this gift. You've got to sing. You're destined to sing." Clarkson continued to sing ever since, and soon started classical training, since her family didn't have much money and she hoped that music would offer college scholarships.
Clarkson attended Burleson Middle School and Burleson High School. She originally wanted to become a marine biologist. In seventh grade, a teacher (Mrs. Cynthia Glenn) overheard her singing in a hallway and asked her to audition for the school choir. Clarkson told the teacher that she had never received professional vocal training. In high school, Clarkson performed in musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Brigadoon.
Clarkson worked numerous odd jobs during and after high school, such as mowing lawns, helping her contractor stepfather build porches, and working in a movie theater starting at age 16 and until she moved to Los Angeles. She also worked for Papa John's, Subway, Starbucks, and sold vacuums door to door (her latter experience which she described with a well-intended pun: "It sucked.").
Upon high school graduation, Clarkson was offered full scholarships to the University of Texas, University of North Texas, and Berklee, but decided against college because she had "already written so much music and wanted to try on my own. And I figured you're never too old to go to college."
Upon graduation in 2000, Clarkson worked several jobs to finance her demo CD that she hoped to market toward record labels. She received few responses, and eventually decided to move to Hollywood to seek out other opportunities in music, one of which was a mentorship under songwriter Gerry Goffin. However, Goffin fell ill, and to make ends meet, Clarkson appeared as an extra on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and That '80s Show among others. She played a small role in the 2002 film Issues 101. Following four months in Hollywood, Clarkson was discouraged when her apartment burned down and decided to return to Texas, where she worked as an usher in a movie theater, a cocktail waitress, Six Flags performer, telemarketer, Kirby Vacuum salesperson, and Red Bull promoter.
"Low", the third single from Thankful, reached number two in Canada, but it was unable to make the Top 40 of the U.S. chart. The final single, "The Trouble with Love Is", was not released in Canada, and it peaked at #101 on the U.S. Charts. Clarkson attributed the underperformance of both releases to poor management and relieved her manager Simon Fuller, who she felt was not completely focused on her career.
In the summer of 2006, Clarkson lent Ford Motor Co. a song titled "Go", written by Clarkson and Rhett Lawrence ("Miss Independent"). The song is being used in the company's new advertising campaign, "Bold Moves".
Clarkson has reinstated plans to tour the US this year - with a much smaller tour than the one she cancelled in June. Clarkson began her My December Tour on October 10 in Verona, New York in venues significantly smaller than those previously booked.
On July 7, 2007, Clarkson performed on the American leg of Live Earth. Her five-set performance list included: "Walk Away", "How I Feel", "Never Again", "Sober", and "Since U Been Gone". In a July edition of USA Weekend Magazine, Clarkson reported that she tried a marijuana cookie while in Amsterdam. "It is legal there," she said, saying that she's never done "anything illegal here ".
Reflecting back on Clarkson's performance during the Idol Gives Back special, Jeff Beck described Clarkson's voice as a "soul voice" that "demands attention".
After attending a rehearsal for American Idol's season six finale (in which Clarkson was scheduled to perform), Blender Magazine described Clarkson's voice as such:
Clarkson's name has been mentioned in two songs: The Jonas Brothers' remake of Busted's "Year 3000", and in the remix of "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse featuring Ghostface Killah. |
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| Like every other girl in the world, my most embarrassing moment had to do with a guy completely turning me down. His loss! |
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