Kelly Clarkson Tickets

American pop rock singer Kelly Brianne Clarkson was born on April 24, 1982 in Fort Worth, Texas. After winning the highly popular and most watched TV series American Idol's first season of in 2002, she made her debut under RCA Records.

Initially Kelly was considered as a pop musician with her debut album Thankful (2003), but after the release of her multi-platinum second album Breakaway (2004), Clarkson moved to a more pop rock-oriented mode of music, and won two Grammy Awards. Clarkson's third album, entitled My December, was released on June 26, 2007. Clarkson has sold over 16 million albums worldwide so far.

Kelly Clarkson grew up in the small town of Burleson, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth. Being the third and youngest child of Jeanne Ann Rose - first grade teacher who is of Irish and Greek descent, and Stephen Michael Clarkson - a former engineer who is of Welsh descent, Clarkson's siblings include her brother Jason, and her sister Alyssa. When six years old, her parents got divorced and broke their wedding vows after seventeen years of marriage. Consequently, her brother went to live with her father, her sister went to live with an aunt, and Clarkson remained with her mother. Clarkson often moved around Texas while her mother managed several professions in order to support the family. The family settled in Burleson, where Clarkson's mother married her second husband, Jimmy Taylor.

On September 4, 2002, she won the American Idol and earned 58% of the audience vote over Justin Guarini. Overwhelmed over her unbelievable success, Clarkson performed the ballad "A Moment Like This", the song written for the winner of American Idol, which afterwards appeared on her debut album Thankful. The song's music video was made at Pantages Theater in Hollywood, and also included 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, jumped from #50 to #1. This success was basically due to the influence and popularity gained from Idol as the CD single managed to successfully sell off 236,000 copies in its first week of sales in the U.S.; it spent five weeks at number one in Canada, and remains Clarkson's only #1 there.

Subsequent to her successful release of "A Moment Like This", Clarkson's full-length debut album Thankful was released in North America by RCA Records on April 15, 2003. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. Ultimately, the album was certified double platinum by the RIAA when the album was sold like hot cakes, after the sale of around two million copies on December 8, 2003 and platinum by the CRIA for sales of 100,000 copies on February 10, 2004, and received critical acclaim widely. On the other hand, several critics noted that her early success was established due to her performances on American Idol. All Music Guide critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the album and the SINGER for her great vocal skill: "throughout this record, [Clarkson] makes it seem effortless and charming. She can croon, she can belt out a song, she can be sexy and sassy while still being graceful and as wholesome as the girl next door". Where there were praises, some criticized her as well, including Rachel Kipp of JS Online who criticized Clarkson for not having the same personality on Thankful that she had on American Idol, and wrote: "on American Idol, Clarkson showcased a great voice and an endearing, 'aw-shucks' personality. That personality is missing on Thankful, and there lies the album's greatest fault". Kipp held the producers responsible behind the album for not allowing Clarkson to be herself.

In 2006 during her Europe's tour, Clarkson began writing and composing songs for her third album, My December. During the Addicted Tour, Clarkson debuted two of her songs: "Maybe" and "Yeah". Then, finally recording started for the album in summers of 2006. The first single from My December was "Never Again", which made its radio debut on April 13, 2007. The song was released on iTunes on April 20, 2007, but was taken apart and swapped with a notice which said that the song was not accessible until April 23, 2007. The single reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Pop 100 at #5.

After "Never Again", Clarkson released "Sober" on June 6, 2007, as her next single from My December. The singles were further promoted after Clarkson made a performance on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Clarkson also returned to American Idol on the May 23 2007 season six finale for the first time ever since its third season, performing "Never Again" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry during a Beatles medley.

Interestingly, Clarkson also appeared as the celebrity coach for Canadian Idol during its Top 5 week of the fifth season, aired on the CTV network on August 20th, and she performed on the results show the next night. She was also awarded a Platinum Certification for shipments of more than 100,000 copies of My December in Canada. Clarkson also gave a performance at the 2007 NFL opening kickoff where she sang the national anthem and performed songs from My December including "Never Again", "Maybe" and "Don't Waste Your Time". Also, Clarkson performed on Thanksgiving Day in the halftime show during the Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Jets game.

In early 2008, Clarkson will go on the 2 Worlds, 2 Voices Tour 2008, a co-headlining tour with Reba McEntire . McEntire appeared with Clarkson on a CMT Crossroads special filmed at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on February 22, 2007 that began airing on CMT and MHD later in the year and continues to be played over and over.

According to Kelly, her fourth album is already under way. During an exclusive AIM conversation with AOL's PopEater, Kelly said that her next album will be a fusion of country, blues plus rock.

Kelly was nominated for another Grammy Award for "Best Country Collaboration With Vocals" for her song "Because of You" with Reba McEntire. The awards ceremony is to be held on February 10th, 2008, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Grammys.