Celebrity of the Week: Kelly Clarkson

American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson was born Kelly Brianne Clarkson on April 24, 1982, in Fort Worth, Texas, and later moved to Burleson, Texas. This Greek descent's family consists of mother named Jeanne; step father named Jimmy Taylor; one brother Jason (b. 1973); and one sister Alyssa (b. 1976).

When Kelly was still 13 years old, she was approached by a teacher in her middle school, Pauline Hughes Middle School, about joining the choir; after she was heard singing in the hallway. Nobody had ever really realized her talent or even given her such chance until she got there, that her teacher really supported her to improve her singing skill. From that point, her participation in choral and musical activities had approvingly spurred her interest in a recording career. 

As an attempt to reach her dream, following her high school graduation, Kelly relocated to Los Angeles,

California. There she worked as an extra on television, appearing on the WB's "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and worked briefly with songwriter Gerry Goffin. After that works, her Los Angeles apartment burned down, and she reluctantly moved back to Texas in desperation, but still intent on a career in show business. Arriving in Texas, Kelly began her life from nothing, managed some odd jobs, including worked as a cocktail waitress; a promo girl for Red Bull; at a movie theater, where the premiere of her movie "From Justin to Kelly" was later held; in a pharmacy; at Chili's, the Fort Worth Zoo; as a telemarketer, sold Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door for a day, and did other jobs as well.

In the middle of her desperation, one of her friends, Jessica, encouraged her to stand still and suggested her to try out for Fox's new show "American Idol," the search for a superstar. And so in 2001, along with ten thousand others, Kelly auditioned for the American Idol, for which she said to know nothing about it and tried it out just for fun. Chosen as one of the finalists, she performed live every week for ten weeks with an estimated 25 million viewers, sang such songs as "Respect," "Natural Woman," and "Without You". As fate would have it, she was chosen a favorite among voters, mainly because of her powerful voice and sweet personality. And when the final show came, that was on September 4, 2002, Kelly performed "A Moment Like This," a song written especially for American Idol. 

Kelly, the only contestant to have never landed in the bottom three, was at the end revealed as the winner, became the first "American Idol" with 58 percent of the votes in the final contest against Justin Guarini. Becoming the newly crowned "American Idol," she automatically received the show's prize of a one million dollar recording contract with RCA Records and also signed a deal with Creative Artists Agency. In succession, Kelly then went on the seven week national American Idol Tour, and on September 11, 2002, she sang the National Anthem in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. 

Two weeks after winning the title 'American Idol,' Kelly released her first single "A Moment Like This," which quickly reached number one on the Billboard charts in just one week after its release. By and by, this single set an American record, rising on October 5, 2002, from No. 52 to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, a record previously held by The Beatles with "Can't Buy Me Love". Despite the fact that she's becoming a superstar, Kelly decided not to move to L.A. or New York. Rather, she remained in Texas.

On April 15, 2003, she had her first full-length album "Thankful" released by RCA Records and was certified as "double platinum," signifying over two million sales in the US by the RIAA. Along with this attainment, many critics pointed to Kelly's much success as could be accredited to the commerciality of her

music, yet "Thankful" still garnered good reviews. Aside from various critics dedicated to her, Kelly's first single "Miss Independent," also received wide notice and acclaim. Furthermore, in April the same year, the singer debuted in her first film with Idol runner-up, Justin Guarini. The movie entitled "From Justin to Kelly" is a musical about two teens, Justin and Kelly, who fall in love while on Spring Break in Miami. The character's romance gets sidetracked when their friends get in the way. Unfortunately, the film received weak reviews and was a box office disaster. 

Although the movie was not a blockbuster success, Kelly still remains a respected and known artist. As an evidence, in 2004 she received a Grammy Nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her Top 10 hit single "Miss Independent." Moreover, she also embarked on the 30 cities Independent Tour with fellow American Idol contestant, Clay Aiken (2004), and that same year she released "Breakaway" her sophomore album which was debuted at #3. Though her first album debuted at #1 and sold a few thousand more copies in its first week, industry

experts noted this was not too bad of a sophomore slump. To date, "Breakaway" has sold over 2 million copies, got double platinum and remained in the Billboard Top 10, selling about 90,000 copies per ...

week, while her singles "Breakaway" and "Since U Been Gone" have both garnered widespread airplay and made it into the U.S. Top 10. Since then her career has gotten bigger and bigger! 

Read more: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/kelly_clarkson/biography_3.html#ixzz2RD7cHVrK

Read more: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/kelly_clarkson/biography_2.html#ixzz2RD7F0aw1

Read more: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/celebrity/kelly_clarkson/biography.html#ixzz2RD7AnxGf

That's it for today, hope you guys enjoyed it! She is an amazing singer worthy of recognition and I hope you all like her as much as I do!