Kelly Clarkson
Bio
Kelly Brianne Clarkson was born in Fort Worth, Texas on April 24, 1982. In the tiny town of Burleson, fame such as she found through American Idol was far from her mind.
Kelly was born as the third and youngest child of Jeanne Ann Rose - a first grade English teacher of Greek and Scottish descent - and Stephen Michael Clarkson, a former engineer of Welsh extraction. When she was six, her parents split up after seventeen years of marriage; her brother went to live with her father, her sister went to live with an aunt, and Clarkson remained with her mother, often moving around the state.
Eventually, the family settled in Burleson, where Clarkson's mother married her second husband, Jimmy Taylor. Did they know they had a star in their home? The signs showed up soon.
At Pauline Hughes Middle School, Kelly had wanted to become a marine biologist. But in seventh grade, a teacher overheard her singing in a hallway and asked her to audition for the school choir. Clarkson had never had voice training of any kind, but following middle school, she attended Burleson High School and performed in musicals such as Brigadoon.
Upon graduation in 2000, Kelly worked several jobs to finance her demo CD, one she hoped to market to record labels. She received few responses, though, and eventually decided to move to Hollywood to seek out other opportunities in music, one of which was a mentorship under songwriter Gerry Goffin.
However, Goffin fell ill and Clarkson appeared as an extra on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, along with a few other small roles, to earn some money. Following four months in Hollywood, Clarkson was discouraged and returned to Texas, where she worked at a cinema, as a cocktail waitress, a telemarketer and a Red Bull promoter.
Soon enough, however, Kelly would never need a job aside from singing ever again.
