Past American Idol Winners

Kelly Clarkson - 2002

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, and won two Grammy Awards. Clarkson's third album, entitled My December, was released on June 26, 2007. It went Platinum in many countries, including the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia. Clarkson has sold over 18.6 million albums as of 8th of March. Her fourth album is expected in the fall of 2008.

First Idol Winner

Clarkson won the first season competition of American Idol on September 4 2002, earning 58% of the audience vote over Justin Guarini. 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.

Ruben Studdard - 2003

When auditioning, Studdard sang Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky." This guided him to being one of the local finalists. On American Idol, he impressed viewers with his performances of the Leon Russell/Bonnie Bramlett song "Superstar" (originally a hit for The Carpenters and Luther Vandross) and the Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle duet "A Whole New World"; during his time on the show, Studdard received praise from music legends such as Lionel Richie, Neil Sedaka, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, Luther Vandross, and Gladys Knight.

During the televised competition, Studdard gained the nickname "Velvet Teddy Bear" and was noted for his shirts printed with "205", the telephone area code of his hometown of Birmingham. Studdard also did a cover version of "For All We Know", originally recorded by Donny Hathaway, whose music he grew up with.

He won the contest over runner-up Clay Aiken by only 134,000 votes out of 24,000,000 cast in the May 2003 finale, becoming the second American Idol winner and the first and only male to hold that title until 2006, when fellow Birmingham native Taylor Hicks won Idol's season five.

After Idol

Studdard released his first single, a cover of Westlife's "Flying Without Wings" (which he had sung on the show's finale), produced by the Underdogs and Face, a month later in June 2003. Fueled largely by sales, it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 2003, advance orders for his album Soulful topped the 1 million mark before it was released into stores. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart that month, selling over 400,000 copies in its first week and attaining the highest first-week sales of any American Idol winner. The single "Sorry 2004" from this album found substantial airplay, reaching #9 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Studdard received a Grammy Award nomination in December 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Superstar", nominated with his idol Luther Vandross (Vandross won that category). In March 2004, Ruben won the NAACP Outstanding New Artist award.

Fantasia Barrino - 2004

Fantasia Monique Barrino (born June 30, 1984), or simply Fantasia, is a multiple Grammy Award-nominated R&B/soul singer and award-winning Broadway actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the television series American Idol in 2004. Her first album, Free Yourself, was certified double platinum and received four Grammy nominations. Her second album, Fantasia, was certified gold, received three Grammy nominations and featured the 8-week #1 Billboard Hot R&B hit "When I See U." On April 10, 2007, Fantasia made her stage debut as Celie in the Broadway musical, The Color Purple.

In the final performance of the season that formed the basis upon which America voted, Barrino offered a second performance of "Summertime" that again drew enormous praise from the judges ’Äî including Simon Cowell's remarks that she was the best contestant to ever compete in any competition. This would include the over seventy Idol champions crowned nationally and internationally since the show began its first global incarnations. On the finale, over sixty-five million votes were cast in order to determine the winner on May 26, 2004, up from twenty-four million in 2003. It was the highest finale vote in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 American Idol 6 finale. In the end Fantasia defeated runner-up Diana DeGarmo by 1.3 million votes. At age nineteen, Fantasia was the youngest American Idol winner until May 23, 2007, when the 17 year-old Jordin Sparks won the title.

Carrie Underwood - 2005

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983 in Muskogee, Oklahoma) is an American country pop singer-songwriter who won the fourth season of American Idol. She also is a five time Grammy Award Winning singer. Since then, she has become a multi-platinum selling recording artist. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified 7x platinum and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. Some Hearts has yielded six #1 hits on the country charts in the United States and Canada: "Inside Your Heaven," "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Don't Forget to Remember Me", "Wasted," and her biggest hit to date, "Before He Cheats." Underwood scored another Top 10 Billboard hit with her charity single, "I'll Stand by You." Some Hearts sold a total of 7 million Recording Industry Association of America-certified copies as of February 2008. In addition to being the best selling album by an American Idol contestant in the United States to date, it is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history.

Her second album, Carnival Ride (which is certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA) was released on October 23, 2007. It has so far sold over 2 million copies and has produced two #1 country hits, "So Small." and "All-American Girl". Underwood's Christmas single, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.

Aside from her vocals, Underwood's success is attributed to what many fans recognize as her wholesome image. In general, many of her songs also present inspirational and uplifting themes and messages. To date, Underwood has sold over 11 million copies worldwide in the last two years.

Taylor Hicks - 2006

Taylor Reuben Hicks (born October 7, 1976) is an American Soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States for well over the span of a decade, during which he also released two independent albums. He rose to prominence in the year 2006 as the winner of the fifth season of American Idol. Upon winning the music competition, he was signed to Arista Records, under which his self-titled major label debut was released on December 12, 2006. His energetic stage performances and influences derived from classic soul, blues, and R&B music have earned him a following of devout fans, who are dubbed as the "Soul Patrol".

Hicks made guest appearances in concerts by Snoop Dogg, Widespread Panic, and Willie Nelson, among others. Hicks also joined his fellow Top 10 Idol finalists on the American Idols LIVE! Tour which ran from July to September. The members of the former Taylor Hicks Band, formed by Hicks two years prior, regrouped as the Little Memphis Blues Orchestra and shadowed the Idols' tour route. Hicks occasionally appeared as a "special guest" when circumstances permitted, and was even accompanied at times by the other Idols, such as Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Ace Young, and Bucky Covington.

Jordin Sparks - 2007

Jordin Brianna Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is an Grammy-nominated American pop singer. On May 23, 2007, she was declared the winner of the sixth season of the reality television show American Idol. Sparks won at the age of 17, making her the youngest winner in American Idol history.

Sparks' songs from the American Idol have been on sale at the iTunes Store and the American Idol official website as Jordin Sparks - EP (called a "bundle" on Idol official website) shortly after the finale of Idol, along with other songs that did not make the EP's cut that are being sold as individual singles. According to SoundScan figures posted in USA Today, Blake Lewis sold more digital singles than Sparks, but her mini album sold more than Lewis'.

After the finale of Idol, Sparks has made several appearances on television shows. She performed the finale song, "This Is My Now"on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Early Show and The View. Sparks had also appeared on Total Request Live, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet with the runner-up of Idol, Blake Lewis, Larry King Live with contestants who made into the top ten of American Idol. and 106 & Park. On July 4, 2007, Sparks performed "God Bless America" and "America the Beautiful" on Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular with Lewis and Melinda Doolittle.

-Wikipedia