Kris Allen biography
Date of birth : 1985-06-21
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Jacksonville, Arkansas, U.S.
Nationality : American
Category : Arts and Entertainment
Last modified : 2010-06-21
Credited as : Singer-songwriter and guitarist-pianist, winner of American Idol contest, sang with Keith Urban
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Kris Allen is a singer from Conway, Arkansas and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol, the televised competition whose past winners include Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken and Carrie Underwood. Allen grew up in a small southern town, where he played in the orchestra but didn't begin performing solo until his last year of high school. After three years of college he left to pursue music and ended up releasing a self-produced CD in 2007 (Brand New Shoes). On American Idol in 2008 and 2009, Allen was cast as the dark horse alternative to front-runner Adam Lambert. Allen's modestly delivered acoustic versions of pop songs contrasted with Lambert's southern California rock performances; fans' cries of judge bias toward Lambert died when viewers chose Allen as the season champ.
Allen had an early interest in music; he started playing the viola while in elementary school, and taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 13. He can also play the piano and ukulele. While in high school, he ranked All-State in music performance and received offers to play in college orchestras.
Allen enrolled in the University of Central Arkansas for college, where he majored in business. Faith plays a large part in Allen's life, and led the aspiring musician to become a worship leader for New Life Church in Arkansas at both the Conway and Greater Little Rock campuses, and on campus at University of Central Arkansas with Chi Alpha Campus Ministries. He has also completed missionary work in Morocco, Spain, Mozambique, South Africa, Thailand, and Burma.
Music also remained an important part in his life, and in 2007 he produced his own album entitled Brand New Shoes.
The next year, on September 26, 2008, he married his high school sweetheart, Katy O'Connell, who was also a former homecoming queen at the University of Arkansas.
Allen stepped into the spotlight in 2009, when he became a finalist on the eighth season of the reality competition American Idol. He, along with fellow performers Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert, have avoided the bottom three positions on the show, which often lead to elimination.
On the final episode of the season, Allen faced off against rocker Adam Lambert, who was favored to win the vote. At the end of the night, however, Allen took the title as the next American Idol. He also became the first married contestant to win the competition.
During the finale of the show, Allen performed the song "Kiss a Girl" with country music star Keith Urban. He then sang a duet with finalist Adam Lambert: "We Are the Champions" by Queen. Following his big win, Allen says he is already at work on a new single entitled "No Boundaries."
On October 25, 2009, live at the Miami Dolphins tailgate party, Allen debuted 3 songs from his self-titled album: "Can't Stay Away", "Written All Over My Face", and "Before We Come Undone".
Allen's entire album was streamed for free on AOL on November 9, 2009. As of March 2010, the album has sold around 275,000 copies. Kris's debut single "Live Like We're Dying" so far has peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him is first top 20 in the U.S. In early March 2010, "Live Like We're Dying" passed 1 million in digital downloads, making it eligible to be certified platinum. The song continues to climb steadily on the charts, and the music video has twice ranked #1 on the VH1 Countdown. Allen's song "Before We Come Undone" was played during the January 13th episode of American Idol.
On January 24, 2010, Allen sang the national anthem for the 2010 NFC Championship Game. Kris has also been featured in many Ford commercials, during the American Idol showing.
On Feb 5 & 6 Kris had a concert in Cebu and McKinley Hills Open Ground in Fort Bonifacio in the Philippines
On Feb 8, Kris had his debut concert in Malaysia. Kris was the first American Idol winner to perform in the country.
On Feb 10, Kris Allen held a concert at Zirca in Singapore, making him the first and only American Idol winner to hold a solo concert in the country.
On February 19, Kris traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation in order to raise awareness for the disaster relief efforts there as the UN and other groups continue to rebuild after the earthquake. Kris made an appearance during the February 25th American Idol results show to share footage of his experiences in Haiti and to perform "Let It Be". This performance was made available for download as a charity single on iTunes after the show.
On March 25 Kris traveled to Rwanda with TOMS shoes and Bridge 2 Rwanda, to drop off more than 35,000 pairs of shoes to children in need.
It was recently announced that the second single from the album would be "The Truth" featuring Patrick Monahan, the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning rock band Train, on vocals. Kris performed for the American Idol Finale to promote his debut album.
