chris daughtry

Christopher Adam "Chris" Daughtry (born December 26, 1979) is a popular American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who is the lead vocalist of Daughtry, a popular rock band formed by him in 2006. He is perhaps best known as the fourth-place finalist on the highly publicized fifth season of American Idol, eliminated from the competition on May 10, 2006. After his departure from Idol, his band's self-titled debut album sold more than 1 million copies after just 5 weeks of release, becoming the fastest selling debut rock album of all time (as stated on the American Idol (Season 6) premiere), and so far outselling his fellow season 5 contestant's Kellie Pickler and the season winner Taylor Hicks' debut albums. He is currently the best selling Idol contestant who was neither the winner or runner up of their season.

Biography

Early Years

Daughtry was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. His parents are Pete and Sandra Daughtry, and they reside in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Daughtry was raised before he relocated to McLeansville outside of Greensboro, North Carolina. His brother, Kenneth, resides in Victoria, Virginia. ^[1].

Growing up, he started listening to other rock artists such as Richard Marx and Rob Thomas. At one point, he also wanted to be an artist. At the age of 16, Daughtry started taking singing seriously as a professional musician and became a popular performer with other rock bands during his time in high school. He graduated in 1998 at Fluvanna County High School in Palmyra, Virginia.

In 2005, Daughtry auditioned for the CBS singing contest, Rock Star: INXS. He did not make the cut for the actual filming of the show.

Daughtry was a lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of his own rock bands in Burlington.

In a segment on the 2006 season of American Idol, Daughtry revealed that he is balding and made the decision to shave his head completely in order to retain an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

Daughtry has been married to Deanna since November 2000.^[2] He has one step-daughter from his wife's previous marriage, and one adopted son. His daughter, Hannah Price, was born in July 1998, and his son, Griffin Daughtry, was born in January 2000.

American Idol

Inspired by Bo Bice, Daughtry auditioned for American Idol in Denver, Colorado with The Boxtops' "The Letter"; he was portrayed as a young rocker with Southern and hard rock influences. He passed the audition by a split decision: approved by Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, disapproved by Simon Cowell. Simon felt that Chris at that time was too robotic.

On March 1, 2006, Daughtry's "raw" performance of Fuel's "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" received critical acclaim by all three judges. On March 3, 2006, Jackson stated in an interview that Daughtry had been offered the opportunity to become Fuel's new lead singer.^[3] On May 11, 2006, the day following his Idol departure, Extra also took up the scoop. At a welcome home party Chris Daughtry said he had declined the offer. ^[4]

Daughtry has also played guitar on Idol in group performances.

Daughtry was in the final four on May 10, 2006, and in a shocker was eliminated from the competition. After Ryan Seacrest announced Chris was going home that night, he asked Daughtry if he was surprised. An obviously stunned Daughtry could only utter, "Yes".

There has been some controversy regarding the accuracy of the vote count on the night Daughtry was eliminated. Many fans say they called to vote and heard a recording of Katharine McPhee thanking them for their vote, rather than one from Chris Daughtry.^[5] However, the vote-tallying website DialIdol predicted that Daughtry was the lowest vote-getter. ^[6]

In an interview after his elimination, Daughtry said that he thought he got voted off because his fans were "overconfident" that he would be safe, so they did not call and vote.

During the Season 5 finale on May 24, 2006 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Daughtry performed the song "Mystery" with the band Live. After Daughtry's performance with Live, "Mystery" was as high as #80 on the ITunes top 100 songs. The downloadable song later appeared on Live's MySpace.com profile.

Daughtry and fellow Idol contestant Ace Young have been friends since they met at the show's Denver auditions, and even periodically shared an apartment as finalists. Young said they clicked because they shared similar upbringings and were both "big on family."^[7] Ryan Seacrest had also dubbed them "the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of the season" when the two were placed in the "bottom 2" together on Young's elimination. In the final episode of the season, a clip of them in a "Best Male Bonding" segment was also shown. Devoted fan alliances of the friendship between Daughtry and Young, referred to as "Chrisace" or "Chrace," have materialized on the Internet.

On American Idol, clips of every one of Daughtry's performances except for his a cappella performance during Hollywood Week were featured on the show. Daughtry sang "The Letter" for his first audition. After being given a Golden Ticket to Hollywood he performed "The First Cut Is the Deepest", and sang "Emotions" during his duo performance with Ace Young. The song for Daughtry's a capella performance remains unknown.

Post-Idol

After leaving American Idol, Daughtry traveled the talk show circuit, post-season promotion which has become increasingly commonplace for non-winners as American Idol progressed through the years. He made appearances on The Tonight Show, Total Request Live, and The Today Show. He also appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, in which he performed "Wanted Dead or Alive"—his track on the American Idol Season Five: Encores CD. In a later episode of the show in which Ellen interviewed ex-presidents Bill Clinton and George HW Bush who were collaborating on the Bush-Clinton Katrina fund, she even jokingly asked if anything could be done about Daughtry's elimination.

Daughtry has proved quite successful since Idol. For the week of June 10, 2006, Daughtry charted #43 on the Billboard Hot 100, being named the Hot Shot Debut of the week^[8].

On June 7, 2006, a duet version of "Mystery", the song Daughtry performed with Live on the American Idol finale, was released via Live's official website. Daughtry is featured on guest vocals.

On June 8, 2006, Daughtry made a cameo appearance on the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, where he performed a parody of Daniel Powter's "Bad Day"—the "theme song" for the fifth season of Idol—with comedian Jimmy Fallon.

On June 16, 2006 Daughtry made a cameo appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in the "Father's Day Gift Ideas" segment. In this segment he played a father who took out the trash to a talking garbage can.

TMZ.com featured a video of Daughtry singing Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush" with a busker on the night of the American Idol finale.

On July 10, 2006 it was announced that Daughtry had signed with 19 Entertainment and RCA Records, and began working on an album that was to be released in November. It was also announced that, like season 4 rocker Constantine Maroulis, he would be forming his own band. His band was formed under the name Daughtry, after the singer's last name^[9].

Daughtry's debut album was released on November 21, 2006. He reportedly told US Weekly that his album "would not be... pop." The first single off Daughtry, "It's Not Over", was released November 21, 2006. "It's Not Over" received critism by critics who say it has the same musical structure as Fuel's "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)"; the same band who offered him the lead singer position less than a year earlier.

WDCG 105.1's Bob and the Showgram interviewed Daughtry and was the first radio station to play tracks from his new album on October 26, 2006. The North Carolina State University Alumni Association and Student Homecoming Committee hosted Daughtry's homecoming solo concert with the new band. The concert was in Raleigh on November 3, 2006 at Reynolds Coliseum, after a Homecoming Parade on Hillsborough Street and a Wolfpack Pep Rally at Reynolds Coliseum.^[10]

On January 21, 2007, Daughtry sang the national anthem at the beginning of the NFC Championship Game, where a single tear could be seen rolling down his cheek.

American Idol performances

Semi-finals

• February 22, 2006 - "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi
  • Randy Jackson praised his choice of song. Paula Abdul stated that he would "go all the way". Simon Cowell said: "For the first time tonight, now I'm hearing somebody with potential."
• March 1, 2006 - "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" by Fuel
  • The judges loved this performance. Cowell thought it was the best performance of the night, stating it was "in a different class". Jackson said that Daughtry could be on top of the charts right now. Abdul said Daughtry was amazing.
• March 8, 2006 - "Broken" by Seether
  • Jackson and Abdul liked this performance, but Cowell found it boring, chiding Chris for his song choice. He advised Chris not to be too "insular"--an idea he would reiterate in following weeks.

Finals

• March 14, 2006 - "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder
  • Theme: Stevie Wonder
    • Roundly praised by all three judges. Cowell opened his comments with, "Thank God for Chris". He said he could imagine Chris having a hit with his rendition of the song, and that Daughtry's blend of Stevie Wonder and the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the only "real world" performance making it the "best tonight, by a mile".
• March 21, 2006 - "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash as performed by Live
  • Theme: 1950's
    • The judges strongly praised Daughtry's originality in presenting a version very different from Cash's original. However, many viewers felt that this performance was similar to a version done by the alternative band Live; no reference to Live was made during the broadcast. Many fans of Daughtry have speculated that he may have given credit to Live in portions of the pre-performance interview that were edited out. On the March 28 episode, in a discussion with Seacrest, Daughtry said that it was in fact Live's version.^[11]

    In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chris said, "It wasn't my doing. You say a lot of things in the [pretaped] interview, and when editing gets involved, things get cut out for time constraints. I did mention in my interview that I'm doing a different version from a band I totally respect. The lead singer of Live, Ed Kowalczyk, called me to say, Man, don't listen to that. We've been talking a lot since. It's really cool for me, because that's the band that inspired me to get into music. Ed Kowalczyk is my favorite singer. It was really cool to get that kind of respect.

• March 28, 2006 - "What If" by Creed
  • Theme: Songs of the 21st Century
    • Jackson liked the song choice, but thought the singing was sharp and it was not his best performance. Abdul loved it, and said "What if...what if...what if...I am your biggest fan?!". Cowell thought he went too far with the song and that "Creed wouldn't be caught dead on this show." Cowell also advised him that he should try something different from the constant rock archetype which he has performed in for most of the competition, calling it indulgent.
• April 4, 2006 - "Making Memories of Us" by Keith Urban
  • Theme: Country
    • Jackson and Abdul liked Daughtry's austere performance and that he showed another musical side of himself. Cowell, however, thought it was a boring song choice, but still liked him showing another musical side.
• April 11, 2006 - "Innuendo" by Queen
  • Theme: Queen
    • Jackson and Abdul, generally fans of Daughtry, both said the performance was great. Cowell did not like the song, and wished that Daughtry had chosen "One of the great Queen songs", but said that the performance was done well. He said it was a little bit indulgent again.
• April 18, 2006 - "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong (Bottom 2)
  • Theme: Great American Songbook
    • All of the judges gave Daughtry's performance rave reviews; Cowell called it "great." Still, Daughtry found himself in the bottom two on elimination night.
• April 25, 2006 - "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" by Bryan Adams (Top 2)
  • Theme: Greatest Love Songs
    • All three judges loved the performance. However, due to airtime constraints, the judges were only allowed a few seconds to speak. Daughtry was in the top two on elimination night.
• May 2, 2006 - "Renegade" by Styx and "I Dare You" by Shinedown
  • Theme: Song From The Contestant's Birth Year (Chris - 1979)
    • First song: All three judges gave this performance rave reviews. Cowell said it was a million times better than the first two performances of the night.
  • Theme: Billboard Top 10
    • Second song: The judges thought Daughtry's performance was "okay", but it was obvious to them after multiple practice sessions his voice was starting to give out.
• May 9, 2006 - "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley and "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley (Eliminated)
  • Theme: Elvis Presley
    • Suspicious Minds: Paula said: "You forget how good that song is, until you hear Chris Daughtry sing it. See you in the finals." Simon gave positive feedback on the first song, and criticized his second song. Daughtry was in the bottom with Katharine McPhee, on May 10, 2006. When asked by Seacrest who would be leaving, Simon expressed that he believed that Katharine should be eliminated; however, Chris, to his surprise, was the one eliminated (McPhee was surprised as well, as it seemed she was braced and ready to leave).
    • A Little Less Conversation: In an interview with TV Week, Nigel Lythgoe commented, "Jon Peter Lewis did it on the series a while ago, and I thought JPL actually did it better, and I'm a Chris fan. But somehow, again, when it got to the end of the song, I thought, "we're getting into Chris's register." Before that I thought it was... average." ^[12]
• May 24, 2006 - "Mystery" (duet with Live)
  • Theme: Finale
    • Although Daughtry was no longer in the competition, he performed a duet with Live and participated in the Top 12 group songs and the guys medley.

Discography

Albums

• 2006 Daughtry — released November 21, Billboard debut at #2, more than 1 million copies sold after 5 weeks in the US alone. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart in its 9th week.

Singles