Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American pop country music singer who won the fourth season of American Idol. She has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified 6x platinum, and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. Underwood is the first American Idol winner to sweep up honors at all three major music awards in the same awards show season (06-07), including one American Music Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards (including Best New Artist). Her critically acclaimed CD has sold the most out of any debuts by an American Idol winner.Her album Some Hearts has yielded five number one hits to date on various charts in the United States and Canada, including "Inside Your Heaven", "Jesus, Take the Wheel", and "Before He Cheats".
Biography
Early yearsBiography
Underwood was born at Muskogee Regional Medical Center, and grew up on her parents' farm in rural Checotah, Oklahoma. She is the third and youngest daughter of Stephen and Carole Underwood (retired schoolteacher of Checotah Public Schools). She has two older sisters, Shanna Underwood Means and Stephanie Underwood Shelton, born in 1973 and 1970 respectively, both elementary school teachers in Oklahoma. Underwood had performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show in her childhood. She's a member of Free Will Baptist Church. As a young child, she sang in church, and for Old Settler's Day and Lion's Club, local events in Checotah. At the age of 13 in 1996, 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.
Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. After high school, she moved on to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where 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, and a tribal member of Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma. 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 IdolUnderwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. After high school, she moved on to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where 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, and a tribal member of Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma. 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.
In the summer of 2004, Underwood auditioned for American Idol in St. Louis. On March 22, 2005, Underwood sang a powerful rendition of the number one 80's rock hit Alone by Heart and the notoriously hard-to-please judge Simon Cowell predicted that Underwood would win the competition and outsell all previous Idol winners. Underwood was the second winner never to have been voted in the bottom three. While on the show, Underwood gained a loyal fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears." Interestingly, she is 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 8th. This was her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005. Also, Underwood 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, only to receive a standing ovation.
Underwood appeared on the sixth season of American Idol, where she sang her single "Wasted" on March 8th. This was her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005. Also, Underwood 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, only to receive a standing ovation.
2005-present: Some Hearts
Underwood's debut album, entitled Some Hearts, was released to store shelves on November 15, 2005, entering the Billboard 200 chart with 315,000 copies sold. The large first week sales of Some Hearts made it #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the biggest debut of any country artist since the advent of the SoundScan system in 1991. Some Hearts has since been certified sextuple Platinum by the RIAA, and is the fastest-selling debut country album in the history of the SoundScan era. The album's second single, "Jesus, Take The Wheel" was released to radio on October 18, 2005. It received so much airplay that it debuted at #39 on the Billboard Country Chart in its first week, setting a record. It eventually reached #1 for 6 consecutive weeks, and was only two weeks shy of Connie Smith's record of an 8-week run back in 1964-1965 with her #1 hit "Once a Day".
"Some Hearts" was also released to Pop, Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary stations in October 2005 and peaked in the top 30 on the Pop and Hot AC formats, while it made the top 15 on the AC Charts.
"Don't Forget To Remember Me," the second of Underwood's singles to be released to country radio, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart, as well as #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it did reach #1 for a week on the Radio & Records Country Singles Chart.
Both "Jesus, Take The Wheel" and "Don't Forget To Remember Me" have earned number one spots in Christian radio countdowns. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" won the Gospel Music Association's award for best country single of the year.
On May 23, 2006, Underwood sang "Jesus, Take the Wheel" receiving a standing ovation at the ACM Awards and ended up winning Best New Female Vocalist and Single of the year for the song. Also she was nominated for Song of the Year and Female Vocalist of the year.
Later that fall Underwood's third country single, Before He Cheats, hit number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, marking Underwood's third country number one hit and her fourth number one hit all together. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, achieving the slowest climb ever to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record that was previously held by Creed from July 2000.
Underwood performed "Before He Cheats", at the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 6, 2006, and later won both the Horizon Award (similar to the "Rookie of the Year" award in sports) for new country artists and Female Vocalist. Underwood's double win is the first time since 1995 that an artist won both the female vocalist and Horizon award.
On November 21, 2006 Underwood went into the American Music Awards with 2 nominations, that night she left the building winning the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award beating out the Pussycat Dolls and Chamillionaire. She was also nominated for Best Female Country Artist, but did not win in that category.
Underwood attended the "2006 Billboard Music Awards" On December 4, 2006, and took home 5 awards. She won the coveted Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country Album of the Year.
Underwood continues her successful trend of top 2 Country singles with the release of "Wasted". The song has peaked at number 1 on the Hot Country Songs Chart, and number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. The video that goes along with "Wasted" debuted at number 2 on the GACTV Top 20 Countdown, it is likely that if "Before He Cheats" did not split votes, the video would have debuted at number one.
On March 3, 2007, Underwood was nominated for 5 Academy of Country Music awards. She is nominated for Best Female Vocalist, Song of the Year "Before He Cheats", Video of the Year "Before He Cheats", Album of the Year "Some Hearts", and Single Record of the Year "Before He Cheats".
On April 11, 2007, Underwood's newest single, "Wasted" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs.
On April 16, 2007, Underwood attended the CMT Awards in Nashville, TN, where she was nominated for three awards, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year, all for "Before He Cheats." She ended up winning all three categories and sang her most successful single to date, "Before He Cheats".
In early April, Underwood took a break from working on her second album to take a trip to South Africa for American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" charity special. A music video package from her trip aired on the show April 25. Underwood recorded an acoustic version of The Pretenders' classic "I'll Stand By You," which served as the music bed for this American Idol video package. The charity single of the song released exclusively on iTunes reached the #2 spot. "I'll Stand By You" was used as the song for Phil Stacey's elimination on May 2, 2007.
Underwood appears on Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on a song entitled "Oh Love".
2007 Grammy Awards
On December 7, 2006, Underwood's album Some Hearts received 4 Grammy nominations. Underwood received two Grammy awards for "Best New Artist", and "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" while "Jesus, Take the Wheel" received nominations for "Best Country Song" and "Song of the Year".
Underwood's nomination marked the first time that an American Idol winner or contestant had been nominated in the "Best New Artist" category. The award ceremony was held on February 11, 2007 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. She also sang alongside Grammy nominees Rascal Flatts. On March 24, 2007, Underwood was featured as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live with host Peyton Manning. Underwood performed her hit singles "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted", helping bring the show's highest ratings in the last 10 months. She became only the tenth country music star to perform on the show (preceded by Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, The Charlie Daniels Band, Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Keith Urban). She is the third American Idol contestant to appear on the show (preceded by Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson).
On June 21, 2007, Underwood was a headliner at Country USA, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Personal interests
Underwood receiving a gift from the 25th Infantry Division (Task Force Lightning) after performing in Tikrit, Iraq in December of 2006.
Underwood receiving a gift from the 25th Infantry Division (Task Force Lightning) after performing in Tikrit, Iraq in December of 2006.
At her American Idol audition, Underwood revealed to the judges that her favorite singer is contemporary country recording artist Martina McBride. Throughout her time on American Idol, home videos were shown in which she sang "Independence Day," one of Martina's best known songs. Underwood also released her version of "Independence Day" as the B-side to her first #1 single, "Inside Your Heaven."
In addition to being a singer, Underwood is also a skilled guitar player, and has accompanied herself on guitar during performances of certain songs like "Don't Forget To Remember Me" and "Inside Your Heaven" during some of her live concerts, as well as on the albums.
Another feature of Underwood's interests was expressed on Idol, her love for animals. Underwood is a vegetarian and stopped consuming beef at the age of 13 as she couldn't stand the thought of eating one of her own animals. She was voted "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by animal-rights organization PETA in 2007 for the second time, the first being in 2005 alongside Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society and has done several public service announcements for the organization.
A native of eastern Oklahoma, she co-wrote a song dedicated to her hometown, "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore". In December 2005, Underwood was named Oklahoman of the Year by Oklahoma Today magazine.
Underwood performed with the USO Christmas Tour in Iraq during the 2006 Holiday season, to spread holiday cheer to the troops overseas. She follows a celebrity entertainment tradition started by Bob Hope that continues to this day. Several internet sites have photos and video clips of Underwood's performances in Iraq, including photos of Underwood in military garb.
Victoria's Secret recently named Underwood the "Sexiest Female Musician". She took the top honors along with Justin Timberlake, who was named the "Sexiest Male Musician". She was also placed on this year's list of the Most Beautiful People by People Magazine. She will be featured in the magazine's upcoming issue. Most recently, Underwood was honored as one of three of the most influential entertainers in America at this point in time.
"Some Hearts" was also released to Pop, Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary stations in October 2005 and peaked in the top 30 on the Pop and Hot AC formats, while it made the top 15 on the AC Charts.
"Don't Forget To Remember Me," the second of Underwood's singles to be released to country radio, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart, as well as #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it did reach #1 for a week on the Radio & Records Country Singles Chart.
Both "Jesus, Take The Wheel" and "Don't Forget To Remember Me" have earned number one spots in Christian radio countdowns. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" won the Gospel Music Association's award for best country single of the year.
On May 23, 2006, Underwood sang "Jesus, Take the Wheel" receiving a standing ovation at the ACM Awards and ended up winning Best New Female Vocalist and Single of the year for the song. Also she was nominated for Song of the Year and Female Vocalist of the year.
Later that fall Underwood's third country single, Before He Cheats, hit number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, marking Underwood's third country number one hit and her fourth number one hit all together. The song peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, achieving the slowest climb ever to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record that was previously held by Creed from July 2000.
Underwood performed "Before He Cheats", at the 40th Annual Country Music Association Awards on November 6, 2006, and later won both the Horizon Award (similar to the "Rookie of the Year" award in sports) for new country artists and Female Vocalist. Underwood's double win is the first time since 1995 that an artist won both the female vocalist and Horizon award.
On November 21, 2006 Underwood went into the American Music Awards with 2 nominations, that night she left the building winning the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award beating out the Pussycat Dolls and Chamillionaire. She was also nominated for Best Female Country Artist, but did not win in that category.
Underwood attended the "2006 Billboard Music Awards" On December 4, 2006, and took home 5 awards. She won the coveted Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country Album of the Year.
Underwood continues her successful trend of top 2 Country singles with the release of "Wasted". The song has peaked at number 1 on the Hot Country Songs Chart, and number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. The video that goes along with "Wasted" debuted at number 2 on the GACTV Top 20 Countdown, it is likely that if "Before He Cheats" did not split votes, the video would have debuted at number one.
On March 3, 2007, Underwood was nominated for 5 Academy of Country Music awards. She is nominated for Best Female Vocalist, Song of the Year "Before He Cheats", Video of the Year "Before He Cheats", Album of the Year "Some Hearts", and Single Record of the Year "Before He Cheats".
On April 11, 2007, Underwood's newest single, "Wasted" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs.
On April 16, 2007, Underwood attended the CMT Awards in Nashville, TN, where she was nominated for three awards, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, and Video Director of the Year, all for "Before He Cheats." She ended up winning all three categories and sang her most successful single to date, "Before He Cheats".
In early April, Underwood took a break from working on her second album to take a trip to South Africa for American Idol's "Idol Gives Back" charity special. A music video package from her trip aired on the show April 25. Underwood recorded an acoustic version of The Pretenders' classic "I'll Stand By You," which served as the music bed for this American Idol video package. The charity single of the song released exclusively on iTunes reached the #2 spot. "I'll Stand By You" was used as the song for Phil Stacey's elimination on May 2, 2007.
Underwood appears on Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on a song entitled "Oh Love".
2007 Grammy Awards
On December 7, 2006, Underwood's album Some Hearts received 4 Grammy nominations. Underwood received two Grammy awards for "Best New Artist", and "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" while "Jesus, Take the Wheel" received nominations for "Best Country Song" and "Song of the Year".
Underwood's nomination marked the first time that an American Idol winner or contestant had been nominated in the "Best New Artist" category. The award ceremony was held on February 11, 2007 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. She also sang alongside Grammy nominees Rascal Flatts. On March 24, 2007, Underwood was featured as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live with host Peyton Manning. Underwood performed her hit singles "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted", helping bring the show's highest ratings in the last 10 months. She became only the tenth country music star to perform on the show (preceded by Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, The Charlie Daniels Band, Dixie Chicks, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Keith Urban). She is the third American Idol contestant to appear on the show (preceded by Clay Aiken and Kelly Clarkson).
On June 21, 2007, Underwood was a headliner at Country USA, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Personal interests
Underwood receiving a gift from the 25th Infantry Division (Task Force Lightning) after performing in Tikrit, Iraq in December of 2006.
Underwood receiving a gift from the 25th Infantry Division (Task Force Lightning) after performing in Tikrit, Iraq in December of 2006.
At her American Idol audition, Underwood revealed to the judges that her favorite singer is contemporary country recording artist Martina McBride. Throughout her time on American Idol, home videos were shown in which she sang "Independence Day," one of Martina's best known songs. Underwood also released her version of "Independence Day" as the B-side to her first #1 single, "Inside Your Heaven."
In addition to being a singer, Underwood is also a skilled guitar player, and has accompanied herself on guitar during performances of certain songs like "Don't Forget To Remember Me" and "Inside Your Heaven" during some of her live concerts, as well as on the albums.
Another feature of Underwood's interests was expressed on Idol, her love for animals. Underwood is a vegetarian and stopped consuming beef at the age of 13 as she couldn't stand the thought of eating one of her own animals. She was voted "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by animal-rights organization PETA in 2007 for the second time, the first being in 2005 alongside Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society and has done several public service announcements for the organization.
A native of eastern Oklahoma, she co-wrote a song dedicated to her hometown, "I Ain't in Checotah Anymore". In December 2005, Underwood was named Oklahoman of the Year by Oklahoma Today magazine.
Underwood performed with the USO Christmas Tour in Iraq during the 2006 Holiday season, to spread holiday cheer to the troops overseas. She follows a celebrity entertainment tradition started by Bob Hope that continues to this day. Several internet sites have photos and video clips of Underwood's performances in Iraq, including photos of Underwood in military garb.
Victoria's Secret recently named Underwood the "Sexiest Female Musician". She took the top honors along with Justin Timberlake, who was named the "Sexiest Male Musician". She was also placed on this year's list of the Most Beautiful People by People Magazine. She will be featured in the magazine's upcoming issue. Most recently, Underwood was honored as one of three of the most influential entertainers in America at this point in time.
