BIGSONG:
Kristopher Neil Allen (born June 21, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol.
Prior to Idol, he self-released a 2007 album, Brand New Shoes.
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, by Jive Records. The album debuted at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album’s lead single, “Live Like We’re Dying”, was released on September 21, 2009, and peaked at number 18 in the U.S. with combined sales of over 1.7 million. Allen’s second major-label album Thank You Camellia was released on May 22, 2012, and the lead single “The Vision of Love” was released March 26, 2012.
Allen released his fifth studio album, Letting You In, on March 18, 2016.
Early life
Allen was born in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to Kimberly (née Wood) and Neil Allen. He is the elder of two sons; his younger brother, Daniel, is a college cheerleading coach.
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. 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.
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. During college, he participated in Christian missionary work around the world, including in Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, South Africa, Spain and Thailand. Allen also served as a worship leader for New Life Church in Conway and Little Rock, AR, as well as for the Chi Alpha campus ministry. He dropped out of college in the middle of his junior year to pursue music professionally, performing in local bars and working as a shoe salesman to make ends meet. Allen planned to go back to college to finish his degree and “get a real job”, but instead was persuaded to audition for American Idol along with his brother Daniel and his friend Cale Mills. Kris stated that “If I had not made it through in American Idol, I would have gone back to college and gotten my business degree.”
Career
Pre-Idol and Brand New Shoes
Allen realized during college that he wanted to play music professionally and began trying to write music. He played his first gig at a local venue in downtown Conway during his sophomore year, and he went on to drop out of college in the middle of his junior year to follow his dream of becoming a professional musician. He worked as a shoe salesman at a sporting goods store during the day to make ends meet and continued playing gigs in Little Rock and Fayetteville at night. In 2007, Allen wrote and self-produced an album entitled Brand New Shoes with college friends and bandmates Michael Holmes (drums) and Chase Erwin (bass). The album’s title makes reference to Allen’s days as a shoe salesman, and only 600 copies of the album were produced, most of which were given to family and friends.
American Idol
Allen auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in Louisville, Kentucky, with his brother Daniel, who did not make it to Hollywood. 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. 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.
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.” 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.”
On the first Top 7 night, Allen chose to sing the Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly” from the indie film Once. While Randy Jackson described it as “pitchy from note one”, Kara DioGuardi declared it “one of your best moments ever.” 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.” 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.
After being voted into the Top 3, Allen returned to Arkansas, filming the hometown material needed 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 Going 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 show’s inception from the Southern United States. 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”. Allen has admitted that the alleged disparity in votes was a “total surprise” to him.
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. Allen’s victory was seen as highly controversial as viewers and the media speculated about the details of the result. However, during the Top 3 results show, host Ryan Seacrest had revealed that the margin between Allen and Lambert was fewer 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”.
