American Idol

Carrie Underwood (Ever Ever After) 

 Enchanted l Carrie Underwood Music Video

 

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American Idol Winner: Year 2005
Season 4 - Carrie Underwood
Born: March 9, 1983
Place: Checotah, Oklahoma

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983 in Checotah, Oklahoma) is an American country singer-songwriter who won the fourth season of American Idol. She also is a Grammy Award-winning singer. She is the first Idol winner to sweep all three major music awards (Billboard, American Music, and Grammy Award) in one single season. Since her sweep, she has become a multi-platinum selling recording artist. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified seven times platinum and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen Sound Scan history. Some Hearts yielded five number one hits on the country charts in the United States and Canada: "Inside Your Heaven," "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Don't Forget to Remember Me", "Wasted," and her biggest hit to date, "Before He Cheats." Underwood scored another Top 10 Billboard hit with her charity single, "I'll Stand by You." Some Hearts sold a total of 7 million RIAA-certified copies as of February 2008. Music didn't run in the family, but Underwood started singing at church when she was 3. Once she was in school, she sang solo roles in student plays. By the seventh grade, people were taking more notice of her voice as she entered local talent shows. She was told she had a "big voice" for "such a little girl." Her taste in music was varied, thanks to her parents (who liked oldies) and sisters (who favored '80s pop). She started listening to country music in the car. She was involved in her high school music program, but she kept telling people she was going to become a famous singer. During college years, she produced a student-run television program and wrote for the school paper, The Northeastern. Music wasn't completely out of the picture.

                                                  Jesus, Take the Wheel

                           

While in college, she had a role in a country music show where she learned about country legends like Patsy Cline and the Carter Family. She was still taking her college classes when friends encouraged her to audition for American Idol. At first, she resisted. However, she soon realized if she didn't audition, she would graduate, get a job and may never have a chance to try out for the show again. So one night after wrapping an appearance in the college country music show, she piled into the car with her mom, a friend and her mother and drove all night, arriving in St. Louis at 6 a.m. They had to be at stadium by 8 a.m. to receive wristbands to be eligible for the auditions. Then she waited eight hours before singing Martina McBride's "Phones Are Ringing All Over Town" for American Idol supervising producer James Breen. Underwood didn't think she sang it well although she was invited to come back the next day and sing for executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. She sang another McBride song for Lythgoe, "Independence Day." On the next round, Underwood sang Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" for the show's judges, who sent her to Hollywood on her first-ever airline flight. As the weeks went by, the other contestants were voted off the show one by one, until the finale on May 25, 2005, when it was Underwood vs. Bo Bice. When Ryan Seacrest announced the winner, Underwood became America's new idol.

Early life

Carrie Marie Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and was raised on her parents' farm in rural Checotah, Oklahoma. She has two older sisters, Shanna (born 1970) and Stephanie Underwood Shelton (born 1973). 
Underwood had performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show in her childhood. As a young child, she sang in church, and for Old Settler’s Day and Lion's Club, local events in Checotah, and Old Settlers Day, and eventually at festivals in several states.  In 1996, when Underwood was 13, her manager at the time tried to get her a recording contract at Capitol Records. However, due to management changes at Capitol, it never materialized.  Along with developing her singing, Underwood learned to play guitar and piano. She graduated from high school in 2001 as her class salutatorian and attended Northeastern State College with an eye on a career in broadcast journalism, but continued her singing career throughout her studies. She graduated magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism. Underwood is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. For two years during the summer, she performed in Northeastern's Downtown Country show in Tahlequah. She also competed in numerous beauty pageants at the university and was selected as Miss NSU runner-up in 2004.

American Idol

In the summer of 2004, Underwood auditioned for American Idol at St. Louis. During the top eleven finalists' performance on the March 22, 2005 Idol episode, Underwood sang a rendition of the number one 80's rock hit "Alone" by Heart and judge Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but would outsell all previous Idol winners. Underwood was the second winner never to have been voted in the bottom three (the first being Kelly Clarkson). While on the show, Underwood gained a loyal fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears". Coincidentally, she was in the same sorority (Sigma Sigma Sigma) as Linda Denham, the creator of the original Care Bears franchise. On May 25, 2005, Underwood was crowned the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, beating out Bo Bice. Underwood appeared on the sixth season of American Idol, where she sang her single "Wasted" on March 8. This was her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005. Underwood also performed at the Idol Gives Back concert singing her new song, "I'll Stand By You", (a cover of the Pretenders hit) along with Kelly Clarkson, Rascal Flatts, and others. Underwood sang the same song at American Idol's season finale on May 23, 2007. She also sang "Praying For Time", a former number one for George Michael, at the 2008 American Idol Gives Back mini-marathon. There is the whirlwind, and then there is the young woman at its center. The key to Carrie Underwood may lie in knowing that, three years down the road, the two remain separate. For all the awards, the record sales, the chart-topping hits, the non-stop schedule and the incessant media attention, Carrie remains firmly in touch with the shy Oklahoma college student she was before becoming a star. Through all of it, she retains a genuine likeability that, coupled with her enormous talent, goes a long way toward explaining the phenomenal nature of her success.

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And it is indeed phenomenal, even when measured by the achievements of others who have found success as she did, via American Idol. The show's co-creator and acerbic judge Simon Cowell had predicted during the competition that she would win and that  she would outsell all of Idol's previous winners. He was right on both counts. Carrie’s debut album, Some Hearts, is the biggest-selling American Idol album to date, selling more than 6 million records in the U.S. alone. Her debut CD, Some Hearts, released in 2005, has been the best-selling female country album of 2005, 2006 and 2007. Carrie hit #1 with every single she has released to date, and has won two Grammy as well as a host of trophies from the AMA, ACM, CMA, People’s Choice and Billboard, among many others.

Her own favorite metaphor for the journey, taken from the Hillary Lindsey/Chris Lindsey/Aimee Mayo song "Wheel Of The World," which closes her eagerly awaited second album, has become the project's title. "This part of my life has been absolutely crazy," she says, "and to think it all started from one little decision I made to get on that ride. That's why Carnival Ride works as my album title, because it describes the wonderful craziness I've been through over the past couple of years." Some Hearts was a snapshot that captured a moment, dealing with coming of age and with establishing a foothold in a wider world. Its success speaks volumes about the attractiveness of its message and of the woman who delivered it. Carnival Ride, on the other hand, is a big-screen movie, wide-ranging in theme, cinematic in scope. It reflects Carrie's increasing strength as a vocalist, her continuing emergence as a songwriter, and her growing maturity as an artist and a person. "Last time," she says, "I didn't set out to talk about a specific thing. I just picked songs that reminded me of home and made me think, 'Wow! I can relate to that,' and by the end, there was a theme." Taking a broader view this time, she drew on her instincts as a fan in selecting songs that range from the enchantingly light-hearted to the deeply inspiring. "It's a collection of songs I would want to hear on the radio," she says, "and songs I want to sing. I really hope my fans will get a little bit more of me out of these songs." The presence of four songs co-written by Carrie will help them do just that. "All-American Girl" turns the story of a baby girl born to a man praying for a boy into a celebration of femininity. If there is a bit of autobiography in the song--Carrie is the youngest of three daughters--there is even more in "Crazy Dreams," an ode to "long shots" and a celebration of the fact that "even crazy dreams come true," something she knows better than almost anyone. "Last Name" is a bit of pure fun celebrating reckless abandon, and is one of two songs Carrie wrote with Hillary Lindsey. The other is the album's first single, "So Small," a song that announces the new project as a major step forward. With "So Small" Carrie focuses on what’s important in life and not worrying about the small things. It also focuses on the strength of her voice and personality, instilling it with freshness and relevance.

                                  

Lindsey, who co-wrote "Jesus, Take The Wheel, video above" and Carrie have become fast friends since meeting when a group of songwriters gathered at a songwriter retreat in Nashville after her Idol win to help Carrie write and select songs for Some Hearts. In addition to "Wheel of the World" and the pair of songs she wrote with Carrie, Lindsey co-wrote "Get Out Of This Town," a bit of upbeat restlessness, "Twisted," about a relationship on the edge, and "Just A Dream," a powerful song dealing with the effects of war on a young bride-to-be. Carrie's emergence as a songwriter on Carnival Ride is another of the album's revelations. She brought together another group of top Nashville tunesmiths, including Brett James, Luke Laird, Kelley Lovelace, Aimee Mayo, Steve McEwan and others for a second writers' retreat. This one held at the Ryman Auditorium, the most famous former home of the Grand Ole Opry, throwing herself into the creative process and expanding greatly her confidence as a songwriter and her depth as a creative force in modern country music.

The process of writing with and looking through the catalogs of the cream of Nashville songwriting helped make Carnival Ride the strong artistic statement it is. "We had so many great songs to choose from it was really hard to narrow it down," she says. "We set the bar really high. Songs that would be hits hands-down might not have made it onto the album because one was a teeny notch better. "The strength of those songs helped propel the subsequent recording sessions.”We really took the first part of the year to make sure we had the best material we could possibly find," she says, "and then we went in every day to the studio, which is something I really love to do. It is a very controlled environment. Mark [Bright, her producer] is so easy to work with. He'll encourage me to play around with vocal approaches because, at the end of the day, it's my voice, and the song is something I'll be doing on stage every night. He trusts the instincts I have and I trust him. That makes us a good team."

Holding the entire package together is the passion and believability fans came to know and love on American Idol and which haven't dimmed a bit. The combination grew out of a lifelong love of country music nurtured in her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma. "I had a very happy childhood full of the wonderful simple things that children love to do," she says. "Growing up in the country, I enjoyed things like playing on dirt roads, climbing trees, catching little woodland creatures and, of course, singing." She sang in church, then in grade school musicals and area talent shows, winning a savings bond here, a trophy there. "People always told me that I should try out for the American Idol show, but I never thought I would be able to handle it." When her mother offered to drive her to St. Louis for tryouts, though, she decided to go. That, of course, set in motion the whirlwind. "I remember certain things--Saturday Night Live was really cool," she says. "It was great to be added to the list of such great iconic artists who have performed on the show before. And of course, being on stage at the Grammy’s--that was an amazing moment. Who'd have thought? But each one runs together. I'd love to revel in the moment a little more sometimes. Still, it is a mark of Carrie's level-headedness and determination that amid the demands of a star, she made it a goal to complete her college degree. Even among the madness of winning American Idol in May 2005, recording and launching her debut album in November 2005, she finished her credit hours and earned her B.A., graduating magna cum laude in May 2006. And while she has grown a little more accustomed to the elite circles in which she sometimes travels, now and then she can tap into the fan she has always been, as when she met Randy Travis not long ago.

                        

"I've loved him ever since I was little," she says. "So, it was kind of like, 'Wow! This is the person I hoped would take home the awards when I watched as a little girl.' It was kind of a crazy day and I guess my emotions were running a little high when I got to meet him. I met him and he was so nice, and I started crying. I never know what to do with people when they cry when meeting me, so I was thinking, 'Gosh! I'm one of those people now! I'm being completely silly,' but it was just the way it happened." Her version of Travis's hit "I Told You So" appears on Carnival Ride. She appears on Brad Paisley's album 5th Gear, joining him on "Oh Love" as her reach continues to expand. She recorded an original song called "Ever Ever After" for the Disney movie Enchanted and filmed a music video for the project. Her versatility is such that she has covered the work of artists including the Eagles and Bob Wills on the Grammy, Fleetwood Mac on Fashion Rocks, and she made the Pretenders' classic "I'll Stand by You" her own in a version that raised money for the "Idol Gives Back" charity effort. As part of her involvement, Carrie traveled to South Africa to visit and perform for schools, orphanages, hospices and health care centers in and around Johannesburg.

In 2006, Carrie performed over 150 shows on tour with Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley as well as headlining her own dates. She ended the year headlining a USO Tour during the Christmas holiday season and performing for U.S. troops in Kuwait and Iraq. 
Carrie, known for her love of animals, is also a major supporter of the Humane Society of the United States. Such charitable efforts are yet another indication that, in a world where celebrity is often about mere self-indulgence, Carrie brings as much grace, style and substance to her life as she does to her stage performances. She has quickly become one of country music's most effective and best-loved ambassadors, using her success as a springboard for good. Now, with the release of Carnival Ride, we are reminded once again of the rich talent that underlies that humanitarian spirit and of the bottom line when it comes to the popularity of this remarkable young woman.