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Carrie
Underwood 
The
first country American Idol, Carrie Underwood grew up in the small
town of Checotah, OK, and began singing with her church at the tender
age of three. Throughout her childhood, she also performed at functions
for the Lion's Club and Old Settlers Day, and eventually at festivals
in several states. Along with developing her singing, Underwood
learned to play guitar and piano. She graduated from high school
as her class salutatorian and majored in mass communication at Northeastern
State College with an eye on a career in broadcast journalism, but
continued her singing career throughout her studies.
As a senior
just a few credits short of her degree, Underwood heard about the
auditions for the 2005 season of American Idol. She tried out for
the show at the St. Louis, MO, auditions, and her innocent charm
and pure, pretty voice ended up winning her not only a place among
the 12 finalists, but the title of 2005's American Idol. Her debut
single, Inside Your Heaven, was released that summer, and along
with appearing on the American Idols Live! tour, and picking up
endorsement deals with Hershey's and Skechers, she began recording
her debut album in Nashville. Some Hearts was released late that
fall and was a smash hit, selling over 300,000 copies in its first
week and eventually going triple platinum. The album's lead single,
"Jesus, Take the Wheel," was also a big success, topping
Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart for six weeks.
Acclaim for
the album and single spilled over into 2006, when Some Hearts re-entered
Billboard's Top Ten after Underwood's appearance on the 2006 American
Idol finale and "Jesus, Take the Wheel" won Single Record
of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards (where she also
won Top Female Vocalist); a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association;
and Breakthrough Video and Best Female Video at the CMT Awards,
making her the only double winner at the event. Despite her hectic
career as a country music star -- which included carrying her Some
Hearts tour through the fall of 2006 -- Underwood found the time
to finish her degree and become a spokesperson for People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (who named her 2005's World's Sexiest
Vegetarian). "Before He Cheats" was released as Underwood's
third single late in 2006, and became her third country number one
and her fourth total number one hit. That December, she won five
Billboard Music Awards: Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist
of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country
Album of the Year.
Early in 2007,
Underwood began work on her second album, while "Wasted"
became the fourth single taken from Some Hearts; she performed it
on an episode of American Idol that March, and the following month,
it hit number one on the Hot Country Songs Chart. She returned to
American Idol in April as part of the show's "Idol Gives Back"
benefit episode: Underwood visited South Africa and recorded an
acoustic cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You,"
which was released exclusively on iTunes. Underwood won three awards
at the 2007 CMT Awards: Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year,
and Video Director of the Year for the video for "Before He
Cheats." She also took home three 2007 ACM Awards in May, which
included Album of the Year for Some Hearts and Top Female Vocalist.
She made a third trip to American Idol late in the month for the
sixth season finale, where she sang "I'll Stand by You"
to a standing ovation. During the show, Clive Davis recognized Underwood's
sextuple-platinum sales; Underwood was the first country artist
to sell that many copies of a debut album since LeAnn Rimes' Blue
in 1996. She also appeared on Brad Paisley's album 5th Gear, which
was released in June 2006. She released her sophomore effort, Carnival
Ride, in 2007. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
Here is
the best of Carrie Underwood on the net:
Carrie
Underwood official website
Carrie's
Cosmo interview
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