Real Kelly Clarkson Please 2011 gallery

Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson rose to fame after winning the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.

Clarkson has released four albums to date under RCA Records: her double-platinum debut album Thankful (2003), her multi-platinum second album Breakaway (2004) (which won two Grammy Awards), My December (2007), and her latest album All I Ever Wanted (2009) (which was nominated for a Grammy Award). Her albums have sold over 10.5 million copies in the United States. Clarkson is the only American Idol contestant to have reached number one in the UK. She claimed number one on March 1, 2009, when "My Life Would Suck Without You" debuted number one on downloads alone. Clarkson is also ranked on the top 200 album sellers of the Nielsen SoundScan era at number 187Eleven of Clarkson's singles became Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Her single, "My Life Would Suck Without You", advanced from No. 97 to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in its first week of release, breaking the record for the largest leap to the top position in chart history

Clarkson has toured extensively worldwide as a solo act. She has performed in other versions of American Idol such as Pop Idol, Swedish Idol, Canadian Idol, Australian Idol, as well as other singing competitions such as The X Factor and Superstar K. After Clarkson's appearance on the CMT Crossroads and her duet version of "Because of You" (2007) with Reba McEntire, they co-headlined the 2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour (2008) Billboard named Clarkson the "most successful American Idol of all time factoring in album sales, singles sales, and radio plays Billboard ranked Clarkson the #14 artist of the 2000-10 decade According to Nielsen SoundScan, Clarkson is the highest-selling Idol winner worldwide, with around 36 million singles and 23 million albums sold around the world
* 1 Early life
* 2 Music career
o 2.1 2002–03: American Idol and World Idol
+ 2.1.1 American Idol season 1 performances and results
+ 2.1.2 World Idol performance and results
o 2.2 2003–04: Thankful
o 2.3 2004–06: Breakaway
o 2.4 2006–08: My December
o 2.5 2008–10: All I Ever Wanted
o 2.6 2010–present: Fifth studio album
o 2.7 Collaborations
* 3 Film career
o 3.1 Filmography (acting roles only)
* 4 Musicianship and artistry
* 5 Discography
* 6 Tours
* 7 Awards
* 8 References
o 8.1 Footnotes
o 8.2 Further reading
* 9 External links

Clarkson was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in the small town of Burleson, a suburb of Fort Worth. She is the third and youngest child of Jeanne Rose, a first grade English teacher of Greek descent, and Stephen Michael Clarkson, a former engineer of Irish and Welsh extraction.[

Clarkson's siblings include her older brother and sister, Jason and Alyssa. When Clarkson was six years old, her parents divorced after seventeen years of marriage. The family settled in Burleson, where Clarkson's mother married her second husband, Jimmy Taylor

Clarkson's family struggled financially, and after her parents divorced, music became her refuge. Clarkson attended Pauline G Hughes Middle School and Burleson High School. She wanted to become a marine biologist but changed her mind after seeing the movie Jaws In seventh grade, a teacher (Mrs. Cynthia Glenn) overheard her singing in a hallway and asked her to audition for the school choir; Clarkson told the teacher that she had never received professional vocal training.

In high school, Clarkson performed in musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Brigadoon. She sang at her high school talent show, after which an audience member shared some inspiring words with her: "God has given you this gift. You've got to sing. You're destined to sing." Clarkson continued singing and soon started classical training, hoping that music would be her ticket to a college scholarship

Upon high school graduation, Clarkson was offered full scholarships to The University of Texas at Austin, University of North Texas, and Berklee, but decided against college because she had "already written so much music and wanted to try it on her own," and she figured "you're never too old to go to college.