Kris Allen

Deci,a castigat sezonul al-8-lea de la "American Idol".
Sincer,eu sunt de parere ca Adam ar fi trebuit sa castige,anyway:
Kristopher Neil "Kris" Allen (born June 21, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter from Conway, Arkansas, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol.[1] Prior to Idol, he self-released a 2007 album entitled Brand New Shoes.[2][3]

Allen's Idol coronation song, "No Boundaries" and his version of "Heartless" both charted within the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Allen's post-Idol self-titled album was released on November 17, 2009, through Jive Records. The album debuted at #11 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "Live Like We're Dying", was released on September 21, 2009, and has so far peaked at #18 in the U.S. The album's second single, "The Truth", was released on May 11, 2010, the song featured Pat Monahan of the rock band, Train, on vocals.
Early life

Allen was born in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to Kimberly (née Wood) and Neil Allen.[4][5] He is the elder of two sons; his younger brother, Daniel, is a college cheer-leading coach.[6] Allen is a Christian and served as assistant music director at the non-denominational New Life Church in both Conway, Arkansas, and Little Rock, Arkansas.[7] Allen has participated in missionary work around the world, including in Burma, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, Spain, and Thailand.[7]

Allen's interest in music began very early. He began playing the viola in elementary school and went on to play the instrument in the Mills University Studies High School orchestra, eventually winning a spot in the Arkansas all-state orchestra.[8] Additionally, he taught himself to play the guitar at age 13, and also plays the piano. His musical influences, as stated in his Idol confessionals, include the Beatles, Jamie Cullum, Jason Mraz, Pat Monahan, John Mayer and Michael Jackson. Allen played publicly for several years before trying out for Idol, even opening for earlier Idol contestant Sean Michel on multiple occasions. He has described his decision to audition for American Idol as a "last hurrah" before giving up his pursuit of a music career.[9]
[edit] Education

After high school, Allen moved to Conway, Arkansas, to attend the University of Central Arkansas, where he was a business major and a member of Chi Alpha campus ministries.[7][10] He soon dropped out to pursue music professionally, performing in local bars and working as a shoe salesman to make ends meet.[11][12] Allen planned on going back to college to finish his degree and "get a real job",[10][12] but instead decided to audition for American Idol along with his brother Daniel and his friend Cale Mills.[13]
[edit] Personal life

Allen married his girlfriend of eight years, Katy O'Connell, on September 26, 2008. The two began dating back in Allen's senior year of high school.[14]
American Idol
[edit] Overview
Main article: American Idol (season 8)

Allen auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in Louisville, Kentucky, with his brother Daniel, who did not make it to Hollywood.[15][16] In the early stages of the season, he was among the finalists (along with Allison Iraheta) that received the least amount of screen time. Only several seconds of his first audition (and neither of his Hollywood Week solo performances) were shown, although his group performance with White Chocolate (including fellow finalist Matt Giraud) was aired in its entirety.[10][17][18][19][20] The judges also asked him to participate in an un-aired sing-off with another contestant before they allowed him to enter the semifinals round.[21]

Throughout the competition, Allen received many compliments for his folk-inspired interpretations of modern pop songs. He played several instruments during his performances, including the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the keyboard, and the piano. His performance of "To Make You Feel My Love" as part of the Top 11 earned praise from the judges, with Simon Cowell commenting, "I am genuinely beginning to think you have a shot of doing well in this competition."[22] In the finals, he performed his own arrangement of "Ain't No Sunshine" on a keyboard, with a few musicians on stage, which earned praise from the judges. Cowell lauded it as Allen's "best performance so far."[23]

On the first Top 7 night, Allen chose to sing the Oscar-winning song from the indie film Once. While Randy Jackson described it as "pitchy from note one",[24] Kara DioGuardi declared it "one of your best moments ever."[24] Due to time constraints, Paula Abdul and Cowell did not comment, but on the following night's results show, Cowell stated "Kris, you were brilliant."[25] Allen subsequently received a signed record and other gifts from the original artists, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. On the second Top 7 show, Allen brought back the guitar for the fourth time and performed an original, acoustic version of "She Works Hard for the Money", complete with bongo drums and the band on stage. This earned praise from all four judges, with Abdul remarking "There aren’t many men who are willing to shop in the women’s department. You shopped and found a perfect fit." For his second Top 3 performance, Allen impressed the judges with an acoustic arrangement of Kanye West's "Heartless", prompting Jackson to state that he preferred it to West's original and The Fray's cover version. Cowell agreed and said, "I had written you out of the competition but that has changed after that performance." This performance helped Kris move on to the finals and win.[26]

After being voted into the Top 3, Allen returned home to Arkansas and his hometown to film the material for the next two American Idol episodes. Allen's homecoming parade was greeted by a crowd estimated to be greater than 20,000.[citation needed] Allen performed at three concerts in Little Rock and Conway, Arkansas, playing many of his popular songs during the competition, including "Man in the Mirror", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Falling Slowly" and "She Works Hard for the Money" at the venues, as well as "Come Together" at the studio of local Fox affiliate KLRT-TV. He accompanied himself on all of these songs with his guitar.

During the final performance show, Allen performed a reprise of "Ain't No Sunshine", Simon Fuller's choice of "What's Goin' On" and the coronation song, "No Boundaries". During the final results show, he performed a duet with Keith Urban, singing Urban's single "Kiss a Girl", as well as a series of medleys with his fellow Season 8 contestants. Before the results were announced, Allen performed "We Are the Champions" with eventual runner-up Adam Lambert and Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen.

On May 20, 2009, Kris Allen was declared the winner of the eighth season of American Idol, becoming the first married contestant to claim the title, as well as the sixth winner from the Southern United States (only Jordin Sparks, raised in Glendale, Arizona, and David Cook, from Blue Springs, Missouri, were from outside the South).[27] Allen also became the first winner to accept a trophy shaped like a microphone. Nearly 100 million votes were cast during the finale, setting a new world record for a televised singing competition. Unlike the previous season, the winning margin was undisclosed. Numerous sources, including the Associated Press, claimed that the margin "wasn't even close".[28][29] Allen has admitted that the alleged disparity in votes was a "total surprise" to him.[30]

Certain commentators labeled the win as an "upset" since runner-up Adam Lambert had received a significant amount of media attention throughout the season and was widely perceived to be the show's front-runner.[31][32] His victory was seen as highly controversial as viewers and the media speculated about the details of the result.[31][32][33][34][35] However, during the Top 3 results show, host Ryan Seacrest had revealed that the margin between Allen and Lambert was less than a million votes. Fox and AT&T have stated that they "stand by the outcome" and are "absolutely certain" that "Kris Allen is the American Idol".