Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol in 2005. Underwood has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a winner of six Grammy Awards, sixteen Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards and ten Academy of Country Music Awards, among several others. As a songwriter, she has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Underwood is also a two-time winner of the Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year award and the first woman to win such an award twice (2009/10). Underwood was inducted into and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2008. She was also inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was released in 2005. Bolstered by the huge crossover success of the singles "Before He Cheats" and "Jesus, Take the Wheel", it went on to become the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history, the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history and the best-selling country album of the last 10 years. Underwood won three Grammy Awards for the album, including Best New Artist. Her second album, Carnival Ride, was released in 2007, with one of the biggest opening weeks by a female artist in history, and later earned Underwood two Grammy Awards, for the singles "Last Name" and "I Told You So". Released in 2009, her third album, Play On, was led by the success of its first single, "Cowboy Casanova", and finished the year as the second top-selling release by a female artist. 2012's Blown Away, her fourth album, was ranked the second best-selling release of the year by a female artist. She won a Grammy Award for the album's song "Blown Away". With her strong album and single sales, and $100 million in tour revenues, Underwood is the biggest American Idol earner, the highest-ranked American Idol alumni on the RIAA's Top Digital Artists of all time list and the fourth biggest album seller of the past ten years. She has sold more than 30 million singles and 16 million albums worldwide. Described by music critics as Country Music's reigning Queen, Underwood is the only solo country artist in the 2000 decade to have a number one hit on Billboard Hot 100 and became the first and only country artist to ever debut at number one on the Hot 100, as "Inside Your Heaven" topped the chart in 2005. She is also the female country artist with the most number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, from 1991 to present, having 12 No. 1s and breaking her own Guinness Book record of ten. Some Hearts was named the No. 1 Country Album of the 2000 Decade by Billboard and she was the top-ranked female artist on Billboard's Best Country Artists of the 2000 Decade list. --- Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood on March 10, 1983, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She was raised on her parents' farm in the rural town of Checotah, Oklahoma. Her father worked in a sawmill, while her mother taught elementary school. She has two older sisters, Shanna and Stephanie. During her childhood, Underwood performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show, and sang at her local church, First Free Will Baptist Church. She later sang for local events in Checotah, including Old Settler's Day and the Lion's Club. A local admirer arranged for her to go to Nashville when she was 14 to audition for Capitol Records. In 1996, Capitol Records was preparing a contract for Underwood but cancelled it when company management changed. Underwood said of the event, "I honestly think it's a lot better that nothing came out of it now, because I wouldn't have been ready then. Everything has a way of working out." While at Checotah High School, she was an Honor Society member, a cheerleader, and played basketball and softball. Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. She chose not to pursue singing after graduation. She said, "After high school, 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, graduating magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism. She spent part of one of her summers as a page for Oklahoma State Representative Bobby Frame. She also waited tables at a pizzeria, worked at a zoo, and at a veterinary clinic. Underwood is an alumna 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 she 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", made famous by Heart, and Cowell predicted that Underwood would not only win the competition, but she would also outsell all previous Idol winners. One of the show's producers later said she dominated the voting, winning every week handily. She gained a fan base known as "Carrie's Care Bears" during the course of the show. During the final, she sang with Rascal Flatts their song "Bless the Broken Road". On May 25, 2005, Underwood became the season four winner. Her winnings included a recording contract worth at least a million dollars, use of a private jet for a year, and a Ford Mustang convertible. --- Underwood appeared on How I Met Your Mother in March 2010. She played the part of Tiffany, a medical sales rep that forms a relationship with Ted. This was the second highest rated episode for season five, gaining 10.48 million viewers. Brian Zoromski of IGN gave the episode 8.5 out of 10. He was surprised how well Underwood performed in her first acting role. A few months earlier, she appeared in an episode of the PBS children's television series Sesame Street, performing a voice-over as "Carrie Underworm", a parodied "worm" character. Underwood made her film debut in Soul Surfer in April 2011. She played Sarah Hill, the church youth leader who helped Bethany Hamilton overcome the obstacles she faced after the shark attack. --- Underwood began dating then Ottawa Senators (now Nashville Predators) hockey player Mike Fisher after they met at one of her concerts in late 2008 and she became engaged to him in December 2009. Underwood and Fisher appeared together publicly for the first time in January 2010, at the Bell Sens Soiree, an annual fundraiser in Gatineau for the Ottawa Senators' official charity. After appearing together at the CMT Awards in June 2010, Underwood told reporters that Fisher was planning a surprise honeymoon for the two of them after their summer wedding. On July 10, 2010, Underwood and Fisher wed at The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia, with more than 250 people in attendance. The couple gave People the following statement, which they signed "Mike & Carrie Fisher": "We could not feel more blessed to have found each other and to have shared this day with our friends and family that mean so much to us!" According to People, Monique Lhuillier created a dress of Chantilly lace for Underwood and also designed the bridesmaids' dresses. The ceremony featured classical music and readings of the couple's favorite Bible verses. National Hockey League players, as well as Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, American Idol contestants, and judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson were in attendance. She surprised her husband by having one of their favorite artists, Brandon Heath, sing his song "Love Never Fails" for their first dance.