'American Idol' Winners: Where Are They Now?

You’re going to Hollywood! American Idol paved the best way for actuality competitors reveals to assist on a regular basis folks obtain their goals of music stardom.

The sequence premiered in 2002 on Fox with a star-studded judging panel consisting of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. American Idol‘s freshman season introduced Kelly Clarkson, who would become the show’s first breakout star.

The three judges reunited in September 2019 on The Kelly Clarkson Show the place they admitted they weren’t sure the present’s premise may work — till Clarkson walked by the door.

“I actually, genuinely do not believe we would be sitting here today if you hadn’t entered the show that year,” Cowell mentioned. “The whole premise of the show was, we had to find a star who was gonna sell records. We found some great people that whole year, but when you delivered that moment on that first live show, and you sang that winning song at the end …”

Jackson added, “We looked at each other at the end of the finale and said, ‘Wow, this thing is really gonna work.’ I think that was the moment that we knew.”

American Idol quickly grew to become a popular culture phenomenon that produced winners reminiscent of Ruben Studdard, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks. The competitors sequence additionally turned contestants who didn’t win — together with Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert and Jennifer Hudson — into family names.

However, the street to stardom wasn’t at all times a simple one for the contestants. Underwood instructed Parade in 2015 that American Idol was “the most horrifying thing” and that she wasn’t sure her music profession may succeed.

“I at all times saved in my head, ‘If nothing else ever comes of this, I got to do the coolest thing ever and I won ‘American Idol,’” Underwood said. “I was like, ‘Okay, I will just have fun with this and save up as much money as I can and finish school and get a real job.’ Because I’m at all times a sensible thinker and would by no means enable myself to assume it might end up okay on a regular basis.”

Underwood ended up successful season 4 and later obtained probably the most Grammy Awards of any American Idol winner.

The authentic sequence led to 2016 however returned two years afterward ABC. The revamped present included a model new set of judges with Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie helming the present. American Idol set one other milestone when it topped its first at-home winner, Just Sam, on season 18 in May 2020 as a result of coronavirus pandemic.

Scroll by the gallery beneath to see the place the American Idol winners are right now.

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