Carrie Underwood Biography

Carrie Underwood, singer

Birthdate: March 10, 1983

Birthplace: Muskogee, Oklahoma

Sign: Pisces

Country singer Carrie Underwood shot to fame when she won the fourth season of the singing reality show "American Idol." Following her win, she has gone on to become a multi-platinum selling recording artist and a multiple Grammy Award winner.

Underwood's debut album Some Hearts, was certified seven times platinum and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history.

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.

Some Hearts sold a total of seven million RIAA-certified copies as of February 2008. In addition to being the best selling album by an "American Idol" contestant in the United States to date, it is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history.

Underwood's second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. It has produced three number one country hits, "So Small," "All-American Girl" and "Last Name." Underwood helped write several of the songs on the album.

Aside from her vocals, Underwood's success is attributed to what many fans recognize as her wholesome image. Since becoming an "American Idol" winner, Underwood has sold over 11 million records in the United States. She was also inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry on May 10, 2008.

Underwood was born Carrie Marie Underwood on March 10, 1983 in Muskogee, Oklahoma and raised on her parent's rural farm in Checotah, Oklahoma. Her father worked in a paper mill and her mother was an elementary school teacher. She has two older sisters, Shanna Underwood Means and Stephanie Underwood Shelton. Underwood became a vegetarian when she was 13, claiming she loved animals too much to eat them.

"I had a very happy childhood full of the wonderful simple things that children love to do," she says on her official website. "Growing up in the country, I enjoyed things like playing on dirt roads, climbing trees, catching little woodland creatures and, of course, singing." She sang in church, then in grade school musicals and area talent shows, winning a savings bond here, a trophy there.

"After high school," she says, "I pretty much gave up on the dream of singing. I had reached a point in my life where I had to be practical and prepare for my future in the 'real world.' " She attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where her sorority sisters at Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority worked to bring her out of her shell.

"They always tried to make me sing at everything," she says, "but I was too embarrassed. During the summers I mustered up enough courage to sing at the Downtown Country show--a Branson-style show that included singing, dancing and comedy. It was mainly there that I learned what it was like to be in front of a crowd."

In the summer of 2004, Underwood decided to try out for "American Idol" in St. Louis. Her mother drove her to the audition - and the rest is basically history.

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. At that time judge Simon Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but would outsell all previous "Idol" winners.

Underwood was the second winner never to have been voted in the bottom three (the first being Kelly Clarkson); and after she won, one of the show's producers 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" having never been in the bottom three.

Although she has been singing and touring non-stop since winning "Idol," Underwood did finish her college degree. In her personal life she has been linked to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and "Gossip Girl" star Chace Crawford.