Kris Allen

Kris Allen
Allen in New York City, June 2009
Background information
Birth name	Kristopher Neil Allen
Born	June 21, 1985 (1985-06-21) (age 25) Jacksonville, Arkansas, United States
Origin	Conway, Arkansas, United States
Genres	Pop rock, alternative rock, Acoustic rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, keyboard, viola, electric guitar
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Jive/19 Recordings
Website	www.KrisAllenOfficial.com/

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.

Biography

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]

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 was persuaded to audition for American Idol along with his brother Daniel and his friend Cale Mills.^[13]

Personal life

Allen married his girlfriend of seven years, Katy O'Connell, on September 26, 2008. The two began dating back in Allen's junior year of high school.^[14]

American Idol

Overview

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. 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, David Cook, from Blue Springs, Missouri, and Lee DeWyze, from Chicago, Illinois, 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".^[36][37][38] Allen's first-week album sales were the weakest that had yet been seen by an Idol champion's post-show debut, although observers attributed this partly to weak album sales throughout the industry at the time.^[39]

Performances/Results

• ^1 Due to the judges using their one save to save Matt Giraud, the Top 7 remained intact for another week.
• ^2 It was only announced that Allison Iraheta received the lowest number of votes this week. The other member(s) of the bottom two or three were never revealed, and the safe contestants were announced in random order.
• ^3 Song selected by Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi.

Post-Idol

After Allen's victory, he has been on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Access Hollywood, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Early Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's Fox News show, Huckabee, on which Allen sang a cover of The Beatles' song "Yesterday" with Huckabee accompanying him on bass guitar, and Good Morning America, in which Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert and fellow American Idol winner David Cook performed together as a part of their Summer Concert Series. He was also a guest on Larry King Live (guest hosted by Ryan Seacrest) along with runner-up Adam Lambert, judge Paula Abdul, and the rest of the top ten finalists. His debut single, "No Boundaries", was released on May 20, 2009 on iTunes alongside Lambert's version. Allen's version of the song debuted at #11 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the week of May 29, 2009.

Allen's post-show tour also included a trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, where a parade was held in his honor. During his time at Disney, he visited The American Idol Experience, where he announced the winners of the day's competition. Shortly afterward, Allen returned to his hometown of Conway, Arkansas for the first time following the conclusion of the competition.

On June 5, 2009, Allen performed at the Walmart Annual Shareholders' Meeting 2009, and participated in a brief skit with host Ben Stiller. In addition to renditions of "No Boundaries" and "Heartless", Allen sang a duet with Motown legend Smokey Robinson on The Temptations classic "Get Ready". On June 7, 2009, Allen performed the National Anthem at Game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals to a packed house including Adam Levine, Jack Nicholson, Rihanna, Paula Abdul and Leonardo DiCaprio. Following the performance, which was described as "executed to perfection,"^[40] the announcement was made that Allen had signed a record deal with Jive Records (along with fellow finalist Allison Iraheta). His major label debut is now scheduled for a Fall 2009 release.^[41] In the announcement, Allen stated about his upcoming album, "Everyone's been asking me what it's going to sound like. It will be very similar to what you heard from me on the show – definitely in the pop/rock genre. I can't wait to get started!"

Kris is rumored to be working with Claude Kelly, David Hodges, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Salaam Remi and Joe King of The Fray on his debut album.^[42] He is also reportedly working with Toby Gad^[43], Alex Band of The Calling, Dan Wilson of Semisonic^[44], Chris Daughtry^[45] and Mat Kearney ^[46] for the album.^[43] Kris's debut single, "Live Like We're Dying" (a cover of a b-side track of The Script released in Japan), was released via Z100 in New York on September 21, 2009.^{[47][48][49][50]}

Allen performed with David Gray as part of Boston's Mix 104.1 End of Summer bash September 19, 2009 at the Rooftop Pool at The Colonnade Hotel. Kris also performed at the Live in the Vineyard event in Napa on November 8, along with Collective Soul, A Fine Frenzy, and Parachute.

On November 6, 2009, his music video for "Live Like We're Dying" premiered on AOL's PopEater.com.^[51]

Allen's self-titled album was released on November 17, 2009. After its first week of sales, the album debuted at 11 on the Billboard 200 after selling just over 80,000 copies.^[52]

On January 24, 2010, Allen sang the National Anthem at the NFC Championship Game in New Orleans.

On February 25, 2010, he sang Let It Be for Haiti Relief on American Idol results show.

After returning to the American Idol stage for the first time since his win, Allen will hit the road for his solo tour, starting in Madison, WI on May 29, 2010 and ending in Galveston, TX on July 3. He will supplement his solo tour by joining other major acts, including Keith Urban, OneRepublic, Maroon 5, Barenaked Ladies and another rocker "Idol" alum, Daughtry. Allen will perform with acts during various dates during Summer 2010, beginning with two dates with the Ryan Tedder-fronted OneRepublic on March 19th and 20th at the Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, TX and the Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, TX. He'll then join Daughtry for a one-off date at the Hershey Pavilion in Hershey, PA. Allen will then join country star Keith Urban as his opening act for a string dates across the U.S., beginning on April 23rd in Las Vegas, NV.

Allen will perform with Maroon 5 in a concert at Applebee's Park in Lexington, Kentucky on August 28, 2010. ^[53]

The second single to be released from the album is "The Truth" featuring Patrick Monahan, the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning rock band Train, on vocals for the bridge of the song.

Career

Brand New Shoes (2007–c.)

Kris Allen's musical career began in 2007, when he wrote and self-produced an album entitled Brand New Shoes with college friends and bandmates Michael Holmes (drums) and Chase Erwin (bass).^[2] 600 copies were given to friends and family. Songs from the album were widely distributed online during his time on Idol'."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Kris Allen. 

Kris Allen (2009–present)

On October 25, 2009, live at the Miami Dolphins tailgate party, Allen debuted 3 songs from his self-titled album: "Can't Stay Away", "Written All Over My Face", and "Before We Come Undone".

Allen's entire album was streamed for free on AOL on November 9, 2009.^[54] As of March 2010, the album has sold around 275,000 copies. Kris's debut single "Live Like We're Dying" so far has peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him is first top 20 in the U.S. In early March 2010, "Live Like We're Dying" passed 1 million in digital downloads, making it eligible to be certified platinum. The song continues to climb steadily on the charts, and the music video has twice ranked #1 on the VH1 Countdown. Allen's song "Before We Come Undone" was played during the January 13th episode of American Idol.

On January 24, 2010, Allen sang the national anthem for the 2010 NFC Championship Game. Kris has also been featured in many Ford commercials, during the American Idol showing.

On Feb 5 & 6 Kris had a concert in Cebu and McKinley Hills Open Ground in Fort Bonifacio in the Philippines

On Feb 8, Kris had his debut concert in Malaysia. Kris was the first American Idol winner to perform in the country.^[55]

On Feb 10, Kris Allen held a concert at Zirca in Singapore, making him the first and only American Idol winner to hold a solo concert in the country.

On February 19, Kris traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation in order to raise awareness for the disaster relief efforts there as the UN and other groups continue to rebuild after the earthquake. Kris made an appearance during the February 25th American Idol results show to share footage of his experiences in Haiti and to perform "Let It Be". This performance was made available for download as a charity single on iTunes after the show.^[56]

On March 25 Kris traveled to Rwanda with TOMS shoes and Bridge 2 Rwanda, to drop off more than 35,000 pairs of shoes to children in need.

It was recently announced that the second single from the album would be "The Truth" featuring Patrick Monahan, the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning rock band Train, on vocals. Kris performed for the American Idol Finale to promote his debut album.^[57]

Discography

• Brand New Shoes (2007)
• Kris Allen (2009)

Songs in other media

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website
• Kris Allen at Billboard.com
• Kris Allen on Twitter