Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country singer and songwriter from Checotah, Oklahoma. She rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol. She has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a multiple Grammy Award winner, was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, is a two-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner, and was the entertainer of the year. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified seven times platinum, is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. And it is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history. Some Hearts yielded three number one hits on the country charts in the United States: "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Wasted", and "Before He Cheats", her biggest hit to date.
Her second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. It has so far sold over 3 million copies, and produced five number one country hits on the country charts, "So Small", "All-American Girl", "Last Name" , "Just a Dream" and "I Told You So".
Underwood released her third album, Play On, on November 3, 2009. It has so far sold over 1 million copies since its release. Her first single off the album, "Cowboy Casanova", was released to country radio on September 14, 2009. The single peaked at number one on the country charts, which made Underwood the artist with the most top 10s on the country chart among solo women this decade, followed by Faith Hill and Martina McBride each with 9. In November 2009, Underwood attained total domestic album sales of 11 million and became the highest-selling American Idol artist in the United States, surpassing Kelly Clarkson by approximately 600,000 units. Clarkson, however, remains the highest-selling American Idol alum overall, with over 23 million albums sold worldwide to Underwood's 14 million.
Carrie Marie Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was raised on her parents' farm in the rural town of Checotah, Oklahoma. She has two older sisters, Shanna Means and Stephanie Shelton. Her father worked in a sawmill, while her mother was an elementary school teacher. During her childhood, Underwood had performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show while also singing at the Free Will Baptist Church and later on for local events in Checotah, including Old Settler's Day and the Lion's Club. In 1996, she was in the process of getting a contract with Capitol Records, but the deal was canceled when the recording company's management changed.
Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. After high school, she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, graduating magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism. Underwood is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. For two years during the summer, she performed in Northeastern State University'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.
In the summer of 2004, Underwood auditioned for American Idol in St. Louis, Missouri. After Underwood sang "Could've Been" by Tiffany on the top 12 girls night, judge Simon Cowell commented that she would be one of the favorites to win the competition. During the top 11 finalists' performance on the March 22, 2005, Idol episode, Underwood sang a rendition of the number one 1980s rock hit "Alone" by Heart and Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but she would also outsell all previous Idol winners. Underwood is one of five winners never to have been voted in the bottom three (the others being Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, and David Cook); one of the show's producers later said that Underwood dominated the voting, winning each week handily. While on the show, Underwood gained a loyal fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears." On May 25, 2005, Underwood was crowned the winner of the fourth season of American Idol.
Underwood came back the next season of American Idol to perform her single "Jesus Take the Wheel". She also appeared on the sixth season of American Idol. She sang her single "Wasted" on March 8, making this her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005. 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. Underwood sang "Praying for Time", a former number one for George Michael, during the seventh season American Idol Gives Back mini-marathon. She also came back to perform "Last Name" on May 21, 2008, for the finale of the seventh season of American Idol. She returned again for season 8 on Wednesday, March 18 to perform a duet with Randy Travis with her single "I Told You So", a song Randy Travis wrote for his 1987 album Always & Forever. Underwood was back again on Tuesday, May 19, 2009, to perform the farewell song of Season 8, "Home Sweet Home".
On February 12, 2009, Underwood appeared with the other six American Idol winners so far at the inauguration of The American Idol Experience at Walt Disney World in Florida. Carrie and the other Idol winners received a microphone-shaped trophy honoring them for winning American Idol. Underwood also took the stage to sing her hit single "All-American Girl" as well as perform a duet of "Go Your Own Way" with fellow winner David Cook.
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 number one 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 septuple Platinum by the RIAA, and is the fastest-selling debut country album in the history of the SoundScan era.
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 number thirty-nine on the Billboard Country Chart in its first week. It eventually reached number one for six consecutive weeks. The songwriters, Gordie Sampson, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey, were awarded the 2006 Grammy award for Country Song of the Year.
Underwood's 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, also proved successful, reaching number one on the Radio & Records Country Chart, number two on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and number forty-nine on the Hot 100. "Don't Forget To Remember Me" is her second number one country single and third number one single overall.
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 eight 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 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 won the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award at the American Music Awards, and was also nominated for Best Female Country Artist. She then won 5 awards at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards on December 4, 2006, including 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. At the Academy of Country Music awards in 2007, Underwood won Album of the Year, Video of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year, and was also nominated for Song of the Year and Single Record of the year. On March 24, 2007, Underwood was featured as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing her hit singles "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted".
On April 11, 2007, Underwood continued her streak of top Country singles with the release of [4]"Wasted". The song peaked at number one 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. Underwood also appeared in Brad Paisley's latest album, 5th Gear, on a song entitled "Oh Love" (co-written by Gordie Sampson, Hillary Lindsey and Aimee Mayo). Aside from those activities, she also performed "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted" at the CMA Music Festival.
On August 2008, "Jesus, Take the Wheel" was reported to have been sold more than one million ringtones and was certified Platinum, making Underwood the first country artist ever to have two songs hit Platinum Mastertone status (together with "Before He Cheats", which has been certified earlier in 2007.
Underwood also had her film soundtrack debut song "Some Hearts" which was played during the ending credits of Aquamarine.
Carrie's second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. "So Small", the first single from the album, was released on July 31, 2007. 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, and Gordie Sampson. Carnival Ride was certified double platinum as of December 14, 2007.
Underwood made her second vocal performance in a film with a song entitled "Ever Ever After" for the Disney movie Enchanted. In the music video for the song, she appears as both animated and live action, much like the characters in the movie. Underwood's name was also mentioned in the Disney Channel series, "Hannah Montana." She appeared on Christmas at Rockefeller Center on November 28, 2007. She also appeared on the holiday CD Hear Something Country Christmas 2007 that featured many other country artists, with a rendition of "Do You Hear What I Hear?". Since then, the song has reached #2 on the AC Chart, and held it for 3 consecutive weeks, making her best AC hit to date.
Underwood was named as Billboard's best country artist of the Billboard year 2007, and in December 2007 over 1,000,000 People magazine readers named "Before He Cheats" as the song of the year. Underwood performed "Flat on the Floor", "All-American Girl", and "Before He Cheats" on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2008. "All-American Girl", her second single, also reached number 1 on the Billboard country charts.
In January 2008, Underwood embarked on a joint tour with Keith Urban named the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour, with dates fixed nationwide that continued through April. She appeared on SNL once again on February 23, 2008, where she sang "All-American Girl" and "Flat on the Floor". She became only the eleventh country music star to perform on the show.
On March 15, 2008, during a performance at the Grand Ole Opry House, Underwood was invited by her idol, Randy Travis, who sneaked up on her as she was finishing her version of Travis' song "I Told You So", to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. She was inducted by Garth Brooks during the May 10, 2008 edition of the Opry at the Grand Ole Opry House. At the age of 26, she is currently the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry.
On April 9, 2008, Underwood went on to perform a rendition of George Michael's "Praying for Time" on the second Idol Gives Back.
On May 19, 2008, Underwood opened the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards with her new single that topped the charts "Last Name" and later went on to win top Female Vocalist for the second consecutive year. On May 21, she performed "Last Name" again on the season finale of American Idol. The single later reached number one on the Hot Country Song chart, making the third single to reach #1 from Carnival Ride, her sixth consecutive number one on the Hot Country Chart and her seventh straight country single number one, and her eighth number one single overall. This made Underwood the first female artist to have two consecutive albums each release three number-ones on this chart since 1998. Shania Twain was the last to accomplish the feat, with The Woman in Me and Come on Over.
Her single, "Just a Dream" was released on July 21, 2008. For the chart week of November 8, 2008, the song became her ninth number one, her seventh consecutive number one on the Hot Country Chart, and her eighth straight number one country single overall. With that, Underwood became the third female artist in country music history to have released four consecutive Number Ones from the same album with Rosanne Cash's King's Record Shop and Shania Twain's "The Woman in Me" being the other two that have done so.
On September 5, 2008, Underwood joined Ciara, Fergie, Rihanna, Beyonce Knowles, Mariah Carey, Leona Lewis and other country/pop/rock singers in performing a single for the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer. The single, called "Just Stand Up", was performed live during the one-hour telethon that aired on all major U.S. television networks. The song was made available on iTunes on September 2. The song eventually peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Underwood received two Country Music Association nominations for the 2008 CMA Awards, Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year: Carnival Ride. The award show was aired on ABC on November 12, 2008, and was hosted by Underwood along with fellow country star Brad Paisley. She performed her single "Just a Dream", introduced by Leslie Ponder. She walked away with the Female Vocalist of the Year award for the third consecutive time and lost the Album of the Year award to George Strait's Troubadour.
She also has co-written a song for Idol alumni Kristy Lee Cook's major-label debut album Why Wait, called "Not Tonight".
On October 21, 2008, Carnival Ride was re-released as a Wal-Mart exclusive 2-pack with a Christmas CD containing 5 songs including her hit, "Do You Hear What I Hear?"
On October 22, 2008, Times Square got a double dose of Carrie Underwood as she unveiled her wax figure at Madame Tussauds New York. The creation of Underwood’s figure began when a team of Madame Tussauds studio artists flew out to meet Carrie on tour for her figure sitting. Underwood was an enthusiastic participant in the figure making process – not only did she spend more than an hour with the studio artists, but she also generously donated a replica of the dress that she wore to the 2006 CMA Awards, when she was first named Female Vocalist of The Year, to Madame Tussauds for her figure to don. “We are thrilled that Carrie was able to join us today to help unveil her figure. Not only is she a bona fide superstar with fans around the world, but she is also an incredibly kind and generous young woman – a true role model for young people today. We know that our guests will love her figure, and we can’t wait for them to see it,” said Janine DiGioacchino, General Manager of Madame Tussauds New York and Madame Tussauds Washington D. C. Underwood's wax likeness is now part of the attraction's "VIP Room" and is posed in a standing position with hands on hips.
She performed "I Know You Won't" at the People's Choice Awards on January 7, 2009, where she won in all her nominated categories — Favorite Female Artist, a special award celebrating People's Choice Awards' 35th anniversary which is Favorite Star 35 and Under, and Favorite Country Song for "Last Name".
The fifth single "I Told You So" was officially released on February 2, 2009. On March 18, she performed the song live with Randy Travis, who originally recorded the song. It peaked at number two on the Billboard country charts.
On February 11, 2009, The nominees for the 44th Academy of Country Music Awards were announced, and Carrie Underwood was nominated for four major awards, including Top Female Vocalist, Video of the Year for "Just a Dream", Album of the Year for "Carnival Ride", and Entertainer of the Year. Carrie Underwood was the only female nominee for this year's Entertainer of the Year, alongside Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and George Strait. On April 5, 2009 Underwood won the Academy Of Country Music Award for Female Vocalist Of the Year. Underwood also won the prestigious trophy for Entertainer of The Year, thus making her only the 7th female to take the award (previous female winners include Loretta Lynn in 1975, Dolly Parton in 1977, Barbara Mandrell in 1980, Reba McEntire in 1994, Shania Twain in 1999, and most recently Dixie Chicks in 2000) in the award show's four decade run.
Underwood recorded a cover of Mötley Crüe's "Home Sweet Home" as the farewell theme song for the eliminated American Idol contestants. It was put up for download on iTunes on March 10, 2009 and was first used on American Idol the following night. A collaboration with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has also recently been confirmed by Sixx himself. On the night before the season finale of American Idol, she performed the song along with Sixx.
Underwood joined Brooks & Dunn, Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Rascal Flatts in an opening duet to the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 5, 2009. She performed a snippet of "All-American Girl". Later on in the show she took home her third consecutive "Female Vocalist of the Year" award, and made history by becoming only the seventh female to win the prestigious "Entertainer of the Year" Award.
On April 14, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show along with other country stars, namely Sugarland, Kenny Chesney and Darius Rucker for the Oprah Country Special. Underwood performed her hit single, "Just a Dream".
Underwood was nominated for Video of the Year at the 2009 CMT Awards for "Just a Dream".
Also in 2009, Forbes reported that Underwood is the top earning American Idol alumni from June 2008 – May 17, 2009. She earned more than twice as much as the second place finisher, with estimated earnings of $14 million during this time period.
Underwood released her third studio album on November 3, 2009 via Arista Nashville. USA Today revealed on August 30, 2009, that the album would be titled Play On, named after the final song on the album. Three promotional singles were made available to iTunes prior to the release of the album. The album debuted atop both Nielsen SoundScan's country and overall album charts this week, selling nearly 318,000 copies. It also debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and rated as the highest first week sales for a female artist in 2009. Susan Boyle broke that record a few weeks later when her debut album sold 701,000 copies during its debut week, therefore making Underwood grab the third-highest female artist first week sales for 2009.
It was announced in August 2009 that Underwood was currently writing a song with pop/R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo on the album. Underwood later stated that she was not sure if the song fit within the context of the rest of the album, but was confident that "someone, somewhere, will definitely record this song".
The first single from the album, "Cowboy Casanova", co-written by Underwood, Brett James and hip hop producer Mike Elizondo, was released on September 14, but after a demo of the song was leaked to and played by a Seattle radio station on September 2, Underwood decided to release the song late that night. The song's official release was September 14. The song was digitally released on iTunes on September 22, 2009. The song has been established as the fastest-selling song in the past year of country music, as well as Underwood's fastest-selling song to date. According to a news release, “Cowboy Casanova” has become Underwood’s 11th No. 1 single and the first hit from Play On.
On December 7, 2006, Underwood's album Some Hearts received four Grammy nominations. Underwood received two Grammy Awards: Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" won Best Country Song for the songwriters Gordie Sampson, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey. Underwood also received a nomination for "Song of the Year". Her 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 sang the Eagles song "Life in the Fast Lane" alongside Grammy nominees Rascal Flatts. She also sang the Eagles' "Desperado" to honour Don Henley of The Eagles.
On February 10, 2008, Underwood was nominated for a combined total of four Grammys including Song of the Year for "Before He Cheats". She won one Grammy Award that night, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and her song won for Best Country Song both for her hit, "Before He Cheats". Underwood also performed "Before He Cheats" on the Grammy Awards, with a more powerful vocal ending.
On February 8, 2009, Underwood, for the third year in a row, won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Last Name", which she performed during the show, for a total of four Grammy awards in three years. "Ever Ever After", which she recorded for the soundtrack of the 2007 film Enchanted, was also nominated for a Grammy Award under the category Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
On December 2, 2009, Underwood received yet another Grammy Nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her #1 hit song "Just a Dream" and a nomination for Best Country Collaboration With Vocals for "I Told You So" with Randy Travis.
In addition to being a singer, Underwood is also a guitar and piano 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. She uses a McPherson guitar with an off-set sound hole. Underwood is an animal lover and a vegetarian. She stopped consuming meat at the age of thirteen as she couldn't stand the thought of eating one of her own animals. She was voted "World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA 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." Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and has done several public service announcements for the organization. Furthermore, Carrie has also done a "Protect Your Pets" public service announcement for Do Something.
Aside from maintaining her physique through healthy eating habits, Underwood told Oprah Winfrey earlier this year that she makes healthy living and fitness a priority. In Nashville, Underwood's personal trainer incorporates a mix of running and kickboxing to keep her trim figure. She also uses a food log to keep track of her eating habits and even gives herself a reward for staying on the healthy eating track. "I give myself stickers, like a kindergartner," she said.
Underwood also lent her voice to benefit cancer research. She was featured on the 2008 song, Just Stand Up. The proceeds benefited Stand Up to Cancer. As a result of their fund raising efforts, the SU2C scientific advisory committee, overseen by the American Association for Cancer Research was able to award 73.6 million dollars towards novel, groundbreaking research.
Cowboy Casanova
Wasted
So Small
I Told You So
Before He Cheats
All-American Girl
