Her debut album, Some Hearts, has yielded five number one hits to date on various 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."Her second album, Carnival Ride was released on October 23, 2007. it became Underwood's first #1 album which has sold over 1 million copies in the US alone[citation needed] and has already produced a number one country hit, "So Small." In addition, Underwood scored another Top 10 Billboard hit with her charity single, "I'll Stand By You", which sold over 300,000 copies in less than two weeks.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Biography
o 1.1 Early life
o 1.2 American Idol
+ 1.2.1 American Idol songs
o 1.3 2005-2007: Some Hearts
+ 1.3.1 2007 Grammy Awards
o 1.4 2007-present: Carnival Ride
* 2 Personal interests
* 3 Personal life
* 4 Discography
* 5 Awards
* 6 Notes
* 7 References
* 8 External links
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Carrie Marie Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and was raised on her parents' farm in rural Checotah, Oklahoma. She has two older sisters, Shanna Underwood Means (born 1970) and Stephanie Underwood Shelton (born 1973); both are elementary school teachers in Oklahoma. Underwood had performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show in her childhood. She is a member of Free Will Baptist Church.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian.[citation needed] After high school, she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. She graduated magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism [2] Underwood is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority,[3]. 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 [4].
[edit] American Idol
Main article: American Idol (Season 4)
In the summer of 2004, Underwood auditioned for American Idol in St. Louis. On March 22, 2005, Underwood sang a rendition of the number one 80's rock hit "Alone" by Heart and judge Simon Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but would 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." Coincidently, she was 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.[5]
Underwood appeared on the sixth season of American Idol, where she sang her single "Wasted" on March 8. This was her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005.[6] Underwood also 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, receiving a standing ovation.
[edit] American Idol songs
Week Song Original Artist
Semi-Finals 1 "Could've Been" Tiffany
Semi-Finals 2 "Piece of My Heart" Janis Joplin, Faith Hill
Semi-Finals 3 "Because You Love Me" Jo Dee Messina
Top 12 "When Will I Be Loved" Linda Ronstadt
Top 11 "Alone" Heart
Top 10 "Independence Day" Martina McBride
Top 9 "Hello Young Lovers" Deborah Kerr
Top 8 "Love Is a Battlefield" Pat Benatar
Top 7 "MacArthur Park" Donna Summer
Top 6 "When God-Fearin' Women Get The Blues" Martina McBride
Top 5 "Trouble"
"Bless the Broken Road" Elvis Presley
Rascal Flatts
Top 4 "If You Don't Know Me By Now"
"Sin Wagon" Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
Dixie Chicks
Top 3 "Crying"
"Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"
"Making Love out of Nothing at All" Roy Orbison
Shania Twain
Air Supply
Top 2 "Inside Your Heaven"
"Independence Day"
"Angels Brought Me Here" Carrie Underwood/Bo Bice
Martina McBride
Guy Sebastian
"'Finale"' "Inside Your Heaven" Carrie Underwood/Bo Bice
[edit] 2005-2007: 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.[7]
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. It eventually reached #1 for six consecutive weeks, and was only two weeks shy of Connie Smith's record of an eight-week run back in 1964-1965 with her #1 hit "Once a Day".
Her third single, "Some Hearts" was only released to Pop, Adult Contemporary and Hot Adult Contemporary stations in October 2005 and peaked in the top 25 on the Hot AC format, 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, her fourth single overall, 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.
Underwood performed "Jesus, Take the Wheel" on May 23, 2006, and received a standing ovation at the ACM Awards. She ended up winning Best New Female Vocalist and Single of the year for the song. She was also nominated for Song of the Year and Female Vocalist of the year, but did not win.
Later that autumn, Underwood's third country single, "Before He Cheats", hit number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, staying there for 5 consecutive weeks, 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. After a year of release, the single still remains in the Billboard charts.
To promote "Before He Cheats", Underwood performed it 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. She was also nominated for Best Female Country Artist, but did not win in that category. She also 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 was nominated for five Academy of Country Music awards in 2007. She was nominated for Best Female Vocalist, Song of the Year, Video of the Year, Album of the Year and Single Record of the Year. She won three of her nominated catergories; Album of the Year, Video of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year.
On April 11, 2007, Underwood continued her success of top 2 Country singles with the release of "Wasted". The song peaked at number 1 on the Hot Country Songs Chart, and number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for Wasted debuted at number 2 on the GACTV Top 20 Countdown.
At the 2007 CMT Awards in Nashville, Tennessee on April 16, Underwood 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 won in all of the three categories. She also performed there, singing "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.
Underwood also appeared in Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on a song entitled "Oh Love". Aside from those activities, she also performed "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted" at the CMA Music Festival.
[edit] 2007 Grammy Awards
On December 7, 2006, Underwood's album Some Hearts received four 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 eleventh country music star to perform on the show
[edit] 2007-present: Carnival Ride
Underwood's second album, Carnival Ride,[8] was released on October 23, 2007.[9] "So Small", the first single from the album, was released on July 31.[10] On Carnival Ride, Underwood was more involved in the songwriting process than on the debut; she set up a writers retreat at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium to collaborate with such Music Row tunesmiths as Hillary Lindsey, Craig Wiseman, Rivers Rutherford, Tom Wehrle and Gordie Sampson.[11]
Underwood appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Enchanted, performing a song titled "Ever Ever After". In the music video for the song she appears as both animated and normal, much like the characters in the movie. She appeared on Christmas at Rockefeller Center on November 28, 2007.
In support of the album, in 2008 Carrie will Co-Headline a world concert tour with Keith Urban. The tour will be titled The Love, Pain and the whole crazy Carnival Ride Tour
[edit] 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 McBride'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.
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 PETA[12] in 2007 for the second time, the first being in 2005 alongside Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. In a 2007 interview with Peta, Underwood stated, "Ever since I was little I loved animals... If you told me I could never sing again, I'd say that was horrible, but it's not my life. If you told me I could never be around animals again, I would just die."[13]
Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and has done several public service announcements for the organization.[14]
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.[15]
Underwood performed with the USO Christmas Tour in Iraq during the 2006 Holiday season, to spread holiday cheer to the troops overseas.[16] 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.[17]
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 the 2007 list of the "Most Beautiful People" by People. 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 and was named sexiest female country artist by Country Weekly.
[edit] Personal life
Underwood performed at halftime of the 2006 Thanksgiving Day football game at the Texas Stadium and was subsequently romantically linked to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.[18] Underwood attended Romo's birthday party in April 2007, and on May 15, 2007, Romo escorted Underwood to the Academy of Country Music Awards.[19]
Underwood is currently linked to Gossip Girl actor Chace Crawford. In October 2007, People magazine reported that the two were seen holding hands in New York City
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