Everything about Kelly Clarkson totally explained
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born
April 24 1982) is an
American pop rock singer,
songwriter, and occasional
actress. 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. Clarkson's third album, entitled
My December, was released on
June 26,
2007. Clarkson has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Her fourth album is expected in the fall of 2008. Clarkson's tour with Reba McEntire ranks as the 13th most successful tour in the U.S. of 2008.
Biography
Early life
Kelly Clarkson was born in
Fort Worth, Texas and grew up in the small town of
Burleson, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth. She is the third and youngest child of Jeanne Ann Rose, a
first grade teacher who is of
Welsh and
Greek descent, and Stephen Michael Clarkson, a former
engineer. Clarkson's siblings include her brother Jason, and her sister Alyssa. When Clarkson was six years old, her parents split up after seventeen years of marriage. As a result, her brother went to live with her father, her sister went to live with an aunt, and Clarkson remained with her mother. Clarkson frequently moved around Texas while her mother managed several
professions in order to support the family. The family settled in Burleson, where Clarkson's mother married her second husband, Jimmy Taylor.
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. Music became her refuge after the first divorce, but she didn't embrace it as her salvation until her teens. Clarkson attended Pauline G Hughes 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'd 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. It was whilst at school that Clarkson first decided to pursue singing. She sang at her high school talent 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 did continue to sing and soon started classical training, since her family didn't have much money and she hoped that music would offer college scholarships.
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, Six Flags Over Texas, Starbucks, and sold vacuums door to door (her latter experience which she described with a well-intended pun: "It sucked."). Choking back tears, Clarkson performed the
ballad "
A Moment Like This", the song written for the winner of
American Idol, which would subsequently appear on her debut
album Thankful. The song's music video was filmed at Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and incorporated short scenes of Clarkson performing on
Idol. When released as a single in October 2002, it set a then record on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 chart when it rose from number fifty-two to number one. This achievement was largely due to the impact from
Idol as the
CD single managed to sell 236,000 copies in its first week of sales in the U.S.; it spent five weeks at number one in
Canada.
Song performances on American Idol
Original audition: "
Express Yourself" (
Madonna) and "
At Last" (
Etta James)
After Idol
Shortly following the completion of the first season of
American Idol, Clarkson was accused of working with a record company. American Idol's rules stated that a contestant wasn't allowed to compete on the program if they'd been linked to a record company. However, she was cleared of all allegations, as she'd only had a contract in order to conduct demonstration work.
Soon after winning
American Idol, Clarkson starred with Idol runner-up
Justin Guarini in the movie
From Justin to Kelly. The film was poorly received by critics and grossed only $5 million at the North American box office, less than half its reported budget. Clarkson has mentioned in interviews that she's shocked when people send her scripts after
From Justin to Kelly, often citing contractual obligation as her sole reason for involvement in the film.
World Idol
In December 2003, a competition titled
World Idol was held in
London,
UK, gathering the winners of the first seasons of
Idol from across the globe. Clarkson was contractually obligated to participate, and placed second behind
Norwegian Idol Kurt Nilsen. She performed Aretha Franklin's "
(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman". Because she left immediately after the competition, she was chided by some in the media for what they saw as poor sportsmanship. Clarkson later explained to fans that she was suffering from an illness.
Post-Idol career
2003–2004: Thankful
Following the successful release of "A Moment Like This", Clarkson's full-length debut album
Thankful was released in North America by
RCA Records on April 15, 2003. It debuted at number one on the U.S.
Billboard 200. Eventually, the album was certified
double platinum by the
RIAA for sales of two million copies on December 8, 2003 and platinum by the
CRIA for sales of 100,000 copies on February 10, 2004. Reviews for the album were generally favorable. However, several critics noted that her early achievement was established due to her performances on
American Idol.
All Music Guide critic
Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the album for its vocal ability: "throughout this record, [Clarkson] makes it seem effortless and charming. She can croon, she can belt out a song, she can be sexy and sassy while still being graceful and as wholesome as the girl next door". Rachel Kipp of
JS Online criticized Clarkson for not having the same personality on
Thankful that she'd on
American Idol, and wrote: "on
American Idol, Clarkson showcased a great voice and an endearing, 'aw-shucks' personality. That personality is missing on
Thankful, and there lies the album's greatest fault". Kipp blamed the producers behind the album for not allowing Clarkson to be herself.
"
Miss Independent" became a success when released as the second single from
Thankful. It reached the top ten of the U.S. and Canadian singles charts, and earned Clarkson a 2004
Grammy Award nomination for "
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance". When the single was released in the
United Kingdom and
Australia, it reached the top ten of the charts; however,
Thankful received less attention. It peaked at number forty-one on the UK albums chart and at number thirty-three on the Australian albums chart. Further singles released outside North America would appear even less successful.
"
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", wasn't 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 wasn't completely focused on her career.
As of 2008,
Thankful has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
2004–2006: Breakaway
Distancing herself from her
American Idol image, Clarkson took more creative control with her second studio album
Breakaway, and through considerable experimentation, developed a rock-oriented image. Her second album (2004), yielded five U.S. top ten singles and won two
Grammy Awards. The album was released by RCA Records on
November 30 2004. Unlike her previous effort, it debuted within the U.S. top five and Canadian top ten, and sales were initially low in comparison to
Thankful. However, the single releases from
Breakaway proved very successful, and allowed it to become only the fourth album in history to stay in the Billboard 200 Top 20 for a consecutive year, as well as, being certified 6x platinum in the U.S in late 2007 and 5x platinum in Canada in May, 2006. With Clarkson's wins at the
American Music Awards, RCA announced Breakaway was certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA. In Australia, the album reached number two and spent 52 weeks in the top 10 and was certified 6x Platinum; however, it experienced a delayed release in the UK. Clarkson co-wrote six of the songs with several
songwriters, such as former
Evanescence band members
Ben Moody,
David Hodges and producer
Max Martin; the title track was cowritten by pop singer
Avril Lavigne.
Breakaway received different responses from critics;
Rolling Stone commented that "on Kelly Clarkson's second album, […] she embraces her rock side rather than the pop pageantry that put her on top of the
American Idol heap".
TeenInk noted the strength of her vocals on
Breakaway, and praised the change from pop music to contemporary rock: "[Clarkson] retains the incredible power and beauty of her voice while switching to rock".
Stylus magazine also enjoyed Clarkson's foray into rock music, however, she was called out because of her
American Idol image, which reviewer Charles Merwin believed she'd yet to lose. He praised the non-singles and wrote that they "maintain a quality high".
All Music Guide called the album "a nice, low-key relief".
Clarkson appeared on numerous television programs during the promotional tour for
Breakaway, some of which included
Saturday Night Live,
The Oprah Winfrey Show and
The View; she performed the first two singles "
Breakaway" and "
Since U Been Gone" on
Saturday Night Live, which became her first major telecast appearance in order to support the album.
"
Breakaway", co-written by
Avril Lavigne, served as the original song for (2004) and achieved considerable success across the world; it became Clarkson's third top-ten single in the U.S. and fourth top-ten single in Canada. It reached number ten in Australia, and number 22 in the UK. The song's
contemporary pop-rock ambiance was one of the several tracks including a stronger
rock-influenced sound that hadn't been heard on
Thankful. The second single "
Since U Been Gone", which was 'produced' by Max Martin, became the most successful release from the album. Its music video presented Clarkson singing to an underground audience with a full band; cutscenes of Clarkson destroying a former boyfriend's apartment were incorporated. The song's strong rock ambiance allowed it to reach number two in the U.S. and the top five across the world. It also earned Clarkson her first Grammy Award for "
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance"; she won a second award for "
Best Pop Vocal Album".
The third and fourth single releases, "
Behind These Hazel Eyes" and "
Because of You", also followed with chart success. The video for "Behind These Hazel Eyes" broke the record for days at #1 for a female artist with 33 out of 50 days #1 on TRL. "Because Of You" became Clarkson's biggest worldwide hit, her first to reach the number one position on the world chart show, where it held for two consecutive weeks in 2006. The video for "Because of You" won the 2006 MTV
Video Music Award for Best Female Video, her second consecutive win in that category (The first being from "Since U Been Gone"). The fifth single from
Breakaway, "
Walk Away", was a top 10 hit in the U.S. and a top five hit in Canada.
Breakaway spent 103 weeks on the
Billboard 200. It fell out of the Billboard 200 in late November and was moved to Billboard's Pop Catalog.
Breakaway was the tenth best selling album of 2006 in the US, adding nearly 2 million additional sales to the 2005 and 2004 sales. As a testament to Clarkson's continuing popularity, she was the most-played artist of 2006 on American radio, despite releasing only one single in the entire year, "
Walk Away". On December 23, 2006, American Top 40 radio show host
Ryan Seacrest announced during a countdown of 2006's most popular songs that Clarkson had had a song in the American Top 40 for 111 weeks, making her "the most successful female artist in AT40 history". She was also the most radio broadcasted artist of 2006 in Australia and "Because Of You" was the third most broadcast song of the same year, despite being released in 2005.
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".
As of 2008,
Breakaway has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.
2007–2008: My December
While on tour in
Europe in 2006, Clarkson began writing and composing songs for her third album,
My December. During the, Clarkson debuted two of her songs: "Maybe" and "Yeah". Recording commenced on the album in the summer of 2006.
The first single from
My December was "
Never Again", which made its radio debut on April 13, 2007. The song was released on
iTunes on April 20, 2007, but was taken down and replaced with a notice that said that the song wasn't available until April 23, 2007. The single peaked on the
Billboard Hot 100 at #8 and on the
Pop 100 at #5. Following "Never Again", Clarkson released "
Sober" as her next single from
My December on June 6, 2007. The singles were promoted with appearances on
Saturday Night Live and
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Clarkson also returned to
American Idol on the May 23 2007 season six finale for the first time since its third season, performing "Never Again" and "
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with
Aerosmith guitarist
Joe Perry during a
Beatles medley.
The song "Chivas" is a hidden track which can be found after the song "Irvine." Clarkson wrote the song on bar napkins before going to a concert by
Los Angeles based cover band
Metal Skool where she was famously seen drinking a bottle of
Chivas Regal in a popular
YouTube video when she was brought on stage to sing with the band.
Clarkson parted with her management, The Firm, on June 11, 2007, after the controversy surrounding
My December. Clarkson would then sign with Starstruck Entertainment, run by Narvel Blackstock - the husband of
Reba McEntire - on July 2, 2007. On June 14, 2007,
Live Nation announced that Clarkson's summer tour — her first nationwide arena tour—has been cancelled due to underwhelming ticket sales, to be rescheduled after the release of the
My December album at smaller, more intimate concert environments.
Clarkson reinstated plans to tour the US during 2007 - 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.
My December was officially released in the
U.S. on June 26, 2007. On the date of the album's release, Clarkson appeared on
Good Morning America to promote her new album. Clarkson performed songs from this new album, including the single "Never Again". Despite the controversy surrounding
My December, the album debuted at #2 in the
U.S. with 291,000 albums sold. This is a slightly higher debut than Clarkson's previous album,
Breakaway, which debuted at #3.
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 [inthe U.S.]".
Music Choice deemed Clarkson as their "Artist of the Month" for the month of
August. Justin Prager, Director of Rock and Pop Programming, issued a public statement: "Kelly's relatively short career has already produced so much exciting music and she's reached millions of viewers through her vast catalog of music videos available on Music Choice. We are looking forward to helping Kelly continue to connect with her fans with this huge campaign." In light of this,
Music Choice released programming detailing Clarkson's career, including a catalog of her favorite moments on screen and in production, a question and answer session with her fans, as well as Clarkson's thoughts on her career.
Clarkson was the celebrity coach for
Canadian Idol during its Top 5 week of the fifth season, aired on the
CTV network on August 20th, and she performed on the results show the next night. She was also awarded a Platinum Certification for shipments of more than 100,000 copies of
My December in
Canada.
Clarkson also performed at the
2007 NFL opening kickoff where she sang the national anthem and performed songs from
My December including "Never Again", "Maybe" and "Don't Waste Your Time". Clarkson also performed in the halftime show for the
Dallas Cowboys and
New York Jets game on Thanksgiving day.
My December was certified both gold (500,000 copies shipped) and platinum (1,000,000 copies shipped) on December 12, 2007 by the
RIAA.
2008-present:
Clarkson has said she's working on a new album due for the last quarter of 2008, and is working with producer
Ryan Tedder.
OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder has confirmed that he's working on new material with Clarkson for her fourth studio album.
Tedder told
Digital Spy that Clarkson's new songs will feature big choruses" and "heavy drum programming, and he mentioned that the songs are influenced by the band
Garbage, while one song will feature an experimental bridge that was inspired by
Mozart.
Clarkson has stated in radio interviews that she's a sequel song for "Irvine" called "I Finally Got It Right" that she plans to have on the next album.
Several demos for songs were stolen and leaked to the internet in April of 2008.
Aben Eubanks, the co-writer of the songs, and Clarkson's guitarist, stated on several blogs and fansites that the songs were stolen from him when the security on his personal webspace was breached. The names of the songs being "Close Your Eyes", "One Day", "Ready", and "With a Little Bit of Luck". In response to the demos, Clarkson later said ""The fact that people have heard music that's not ready yet sucks, but I hope they like it." She is also shown on a preview for her My December Tour, singing "Close Your Eyes".
EOnline mentioned in an article that included statements by Clarkson that the new album will be entitled "True You", however, this was stated by the article writer and not by Clarkson herself and has never been confirmed or officially stated by her label, management, or spokespeople.
On
April 19, 2008, Clarkson participated in a Papal Youth Rally at the campus of
St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie in
Yonkers, New York during the 2008 U.S. performing a mini-concert for those in attendance.
Papal Visit of
Pope Benedict XVI. She performed Schubert's "
Ave Maria" for the Pope later in the day following the Pope's speach. Clarkson, raised
Baptist, was said to be honored by the invitation and appreciative of the rosery given to her and her band by the Pope, who were invited over by the Pope immediatly following the performance for the rosery honor.
On
23 May, 2008, Clarkson confirmed she's begun to record her fourth studio album, with
Ryan Tedder from
OneRepublic on her official fan club. Clarkson also stated that she's recording more songs with Tedder at the moment.
Tours
Country music
Clarkson performed "
What Hurts the Most", with
Rascal Flatts, at
ACM Awards in 2006 and returned again to sing a duet with
Reba McEntire in 2007. This was her second performance on a
country music award show, even though she's in the
pop/rock genre. Along with her performance with Rascal Flatts, Clarkson also performed "
Cigarettes", with the country duo
The Wreckers during one of their shows in Texas.
Building on her country music status, Clarkson and
Reba McEntire recorded an hour-long
CMT Crossroads special at
Nashville's famed
Ryman Auditorium on February 22, 2007. It aired on
CMT and
MHD on June 24, 2007. Previously, Clarkson was a performer on CMT's
Giants: Reba McEntire. where she sang McEntire's hit song "Why Haven't I Heard From You", introduced
Dolly Parton, and later also sang Reba's hit "
Does He Love You" with
Martina McBride. Clarkson also appeared on an episode of McEntire's sitcom
Reba, that aired on January 14, 2007.
At the
Academy of Country Music Awards on May 16, 2007, Clarkson and McEntire sang a duet of Clarkson's own 2005 single, "
Because of You", which also became the lead single from McEntire's album of all-star duets. The music video for this version of the song later debuted on June 20, 2007. This collaboration with McEntire earned Clarkson a CMA Award nomination for "Musical Event of the Year" in 2007 and a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Country Collaboration With Vocal" in 2008.
Clarkson was a surprise guest at the 2007 CMA Music Festival in Nashville on June 7, 2007, where she performed "Does He Love You" and "Because of You" with Reba McEntire during the internationally-renowned annual event. The performance of "Because of You" was taped and aired as part of the "CMA Music Festival: Country's Night To Rock" television special that aired on ABC on July 23, 2007.
On January 17, 2008, Clarkson embarked on the
2 Worlds, 2 Voices Tour 2008, a co-headlining tour with Reba McEntire.
On May 18, 2008, Clarkson performed on stage at the
Academy of Country Music Awards All-Star Jam with
Reba McEntire and
Ronnie Dunn of
Brooks and Dunn. The All-Star jam is the final event of the week taking place the day after the awards show. Clarkson wasn't announced ahead of time for an appearance. Images of the performance can be found on various news outlets and fansites.
Vocal ability
Clarkson's vocal talents and abilities have been met with praise from critics and celebrities alike.
On an interview with
Good Morning America,
Simon Cowell was asked of the six
American Idol winners, who he thought had the best voice. Cowell immediately answered that Clarkson did "by a mile", noting that she was "up there" with other great singers such as
Celine Dion.
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:
Discography
Albums
Number-one singles
Awards
Appearances in popular culture
In 2004, Clarkson appeared in the "Stressed for Success" episode of the animated comedy
King of the Hill as herself in a hallucination by
Bobby Hill.
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.
In the
2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin,
Steve Carell's character screams out "Aaaahh! Kelly Clarkson!" after getting his chest waxed. This line wasn't scripted, but was featured in the film and its
theatrical trailer.
The late-night
FOX sketch comedy show
MADtv did a parody of "Since U Been Gone" in its 10th Season, where it featured
American Idol winners and runners-up talking about their careers and how most of them have flopped.
Nicole Parker played Kelly Clarkson. Also featured in the sketch was
Aries Spears as
Ruben Studdard,
Jordan Peele as
Justin Guarini,
Paul Vogt as
Diana DeGarmo,
Ron Pederson as
Clay Aiken,
Daniele Gaither as
Fantasia, and
Bobby Lee as
William Hung. MADtv also mentioned Clarkson a second time in a sketch from its past season, featuring two characters called "The Crafty Gals". One girl says to the other "Well, we don't know each other sexually" and she says "Yes we do, remember we made out after that Kelly Clarkson concert?" and the other girl said "Oh, yeah! Her music will do that to you".
On April 25, 2007, Clarkson appeared on
Idol Gives Back and performed
Patty Griffin's "
Up to the Mountain". After the performance, the audience who watched Clarkson perform live gave her a standing ovation.
American Idol judge
Simon Cowell described her as "incredible", saying, "When you let her [Clarkson] come back on the show it makes everybody else look like an amateur."
In addition to her roles as spokeswoman for the acne treatment
Proactiv as well as
vitaminwater, Clarkson partnered with
NASCAR for the 2007 season. She appeared in televised advertising spots, performed at pre-race concerts, promoted NASCAR Day, and appeared at the Champions' Banquet in December.
August's issue of
Blender has a feature on Clarkson and her new album, as well as her music label woes.
Clarkson also appeared at the
NFL's opening night performance in
Indianapolis for the kickoff of the new season.
Clarkson also performed at half-time during the 2007 Thanksgiving Day football game between the
NY Jets and the
Dallas Cowboys.
Clarkson has been mentioned in a few episodes of
Disney's hit television show
Hannah Montana, specifically
"It's My Party and I'll Lie if I Want To".
Further Information
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