Who is Carrie Marie Underwood?

Who is Carrie Marie Underwood? The country music world knows her as Carrie Underwood, she is an American country pop singer and songwriter. She rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, and has become a multi-platinum selling recording artist and a multiple Grammy Award winner. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified seven times platinum and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history.[1]Some Hearts yielded three number one hits on the Billboard Country charts in the United States and Canada: "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Wasted", and her biggest hit to date, "Before He Cheats". Additionally "Don't Forget to Remember Me" topped the charts in Canada. Underwood scored another Top 10 Billboard hit with her charity single, "I'll Stand by You". Her debut album is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history.[2]
Her second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. It has so far sold about 2.6 million copies[3] and has produced four number one country hits, "So Small", "All-American Girl", "Last Name", and "Just a Dream".[4] Underwood's Christmas single, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts. Aside from her vocals, Underwood's success is attributed to what many fans recognize as her wholesome image.[5] To date, Underwood has sold over 11 million records worldwide. Underwood was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry on May 10, 2008.

Carrie Marie Underwood was born March 10, 1983 to Stephen and Carolyn Underwood in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and was raised on her parents' farm in the rural town of Checotah, Oklahoma.[6] She has two older sisters, Shanna and Stephanie. Her father, Stephen, worked in a paper mill and her mother was an elementary school teacher.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]

Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian.[8] After high school, she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, graduating magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism.[10] Underwood is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority.[11] 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.[12]

In the summer of 2004, Underwood auditioned for American Idol in St. Louis. During the top eleven finalists' performance on the March 22, 2005, Idol episode, 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.[13] 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.[14] While on the show, Underwood gained a loyal fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears". Coincidentally, 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.

Underwood appeared on the sixth season of American Idol. She sang her single "Wasted" on March 8, marking her fourth time performing on the show since winning the competition in 2005.[15] 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.


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 septuple Platinum by the RIAA, and is the fastest-selling debut country album in the history of the SoundScan era.[16]

The album's second single, [1]"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. 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, 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, [2]"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 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 categories; Album of the Year, Video of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year. 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".
On April 11, 2007, Underwood continued her success of top 2 Country singles with the release of [3]"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".


Underwood's second album, Carnival Ride,[18] was released on October 23, 2007.[19] "So Small", the first single from the album, was released on July 31, 2007.[20] 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.[21] Carnival Ride was certified double platinum as of December 14, 2007.[22]
Underwood made her film debut in singing voice only, performing 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.[23]
Underwood was named as Billboard's best country artist of the Billboard year 2007,[24] 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.[25] 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 to continue through April.[26] 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 Randy Travis, who snuck 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.[27] 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 25, 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 Idol Gives Back. The charity single of the song released exclusively on iTunes reached the #3 spot in less than 24 hours of its release. On May 19, 2008, Underwood opened the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards with her new hit "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 #1 on the Hot Country Song chart, making the third single to reach #1 from "Carnival Ride", her seventh #1 and her sixth consecutive #1 on the Hot Country Chart. 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 latest single, "Just a Dream" was released on July 21, 2008. For the chart week of November 8, 2008, the song has become her eighth #1 and her seventh consecutive #1 on the Hot Country Chart. With that, Underwood becomes 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.

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 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.
Underwood is taking steps to write more songs for her upcoming 3rd album. She told reporters that she's "getting more comfortable" with her writing abilites and she doesn't have to write every song because there are more experienced writers in Nashville. Her 3rd album is slotted for release in late 2009.[29]

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" won "Best Country Song" for the songwriters Gordie Sampson, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey, and received a nomination for "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 the same occasion, she also sang her cover of "Desperado" to honour Don Henley of The Eagles as her solo act. On February 10, 2008, Underwood was nominated for a combined total of four (4) 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.
Carrie was again nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2008 for "Last Name"

Underwood is a vegetarian and stopped consuming meat 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[30] 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."[31] Underwood is a supporter of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and has done several public service announcements for the organization.[32]

Underwood has also stated she has a great interest in sports. In 2005 she performed the Star-Spangled Banner at Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons,[36] and in 2006 at the NBA All-Star Game.[37] She also performed the Star-Spangled Banner at the NFC Championship Game between the Seattle Seahawks and Carolina Panthers in 2006,[38] as well as 2006 edition of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600,[39] and at Game 3 of the 2007 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies.[40] In 2007 she was seen attending an NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets alongside Taylor Swift and fellow American Idol contestant Kellie Pickler,[41] as well as another game between the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers.[42] On June 4, 2008, Underwood participated in the 18th annual City of Hope Celebrity Softball tournament for charity. The event took place in Nashville, Tennessee and benefited research for life-threatening diseases.[43]

Underwood performed at halftime of the 2006 Thanksgiving Day football game at Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas and was friends with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.[44] She attended his birthday party in April 2007, and on May 15, 2007, he escorted her to the Academy of Country Music Awards They were rumored to be dating off and on throughout 2007. Although she denied it when asked, Romo confirmed it. His website www.tonyromoonline.org, quoted him as saying, "...I'm dating Carrie Underwood." Tony Romo also told an Illinois paper that they were dating. "[45]
Since August 2007, she had been dating Chace Crawford of Gossip Girl. On October 4, 2007, People magazine reported that the two were seen holding hands in New York City,[46] though according to recent reports,[47] the two have recently broken up for good.

In October 2007, Underwood created a Swarovski Crystal encrusted jean jacket for the SOS Children's Villages - USA "World Orphan Week". The jacket sold for more than $700.
Underwood is reported to be dating professional hockey player Mike Fisher, of the NHL's Ottawa Senators[48].
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