Kelly Clarkson.

Kelly Brianne Clarkson was born on April 24th, 1982 and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas with her mom and her brother, Jason, and sister Alyssa. While growing up, Clarkson's family had a hard time financially and often argued about money, and from this experience, including her parents divorce, she began to seek comfort in music. She was very involved in her High School Choir at Burleson High School, where she sang in talent shows, and many musicals (Including Annie Get Your Gun, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Brigadoon). In 2002, she tried out for a show, brand new to the U.S. called American Idol. Although not a judges favorite from the beginning, she eventually proved herself and became the very first person to dawn the "American Idol" title on September 4th, 2002, with 58% of the audience vote over Justin Guarinni. Choking back tears, Clarkson performed "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.

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 was not allowed to compete on the program if they had been linked to a record company. However, she was cleared of all allegations, as she had only had a contract in order to conduct demonstration work. Some say that it could have been a career-ending move, but soon after winning American Idol, Clarkson starred with Idol runner-up Justin Guarrini 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 is shocked when people send her scripts after From Justin to Kelly, often citing contractual obligation as her sole reason for involvement in the film.

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. "Miss Independant" 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".

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. Singles included: "Breakaway", "Since U Been Gone", "Behind These Hazel Eyes", "Because of You" and "Walk Away".

While on tour in Europe in 2006, Clarkson began writing and composing songs for her third album, My December. The first single, "Never Again" made it's radio debut in April of 2007. Shortly following was her second single, "Sober". So far My December has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and continues to hold steady on the charts.

 Carkson toured with Reba McEntire in 2007 after the success of their crossover duet "Does He Love You". She  had initially planned a worldwide headlining tour for 2008, but has since cancelled it because of underwhelming ticket sales. They are currently rescheduling some of the venues in hopes of garnering a smaller, more intimate "Kelly" experience to promote the album. Dates are expected to be released soon. She is also working on a brand new 4th album with Ryan Tedder (frontman of One Republic).