The Life and Music Career of Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood Carrie Underwood is a highly successful country singer and actress who rose to fame when she won American Idol season 4 in 2005. Since 2005, Underwood has recorded four studio albums: Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, and most recently, Blown Away. She has a net worth of $55 million. In 2013, she earned $30 million, and was the 5th top-earning country act. She was on the FORBES Celebrity 100 as #46. Born on March 10, 1983 to Stephen and Carole Underwood, Underwood was raised in Checotah, Oklahoma, with two sisters, Shanna and Stephanie.

In high school, Underwood attended Checotah High School and was very involved in extracurriculars. In addition to being a Honor Society member, she was also a cheerleader, played basketball & softball and was salutatorian in 2001. For college, Underwood attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and received her bachelor's degree in mass communication with emphasis in journalism with high honors. This is interesting because she completed her degree after she won American Idol and released her debut album.

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During her high school and college years, Underwood held numerous jobs such as being a page for an Oklahoma State Representative (helper), pizzeria waitress, zoo employee, and veterinary clinic employee.

However, none of these would compare to the career she would eventually have. From some of the jobs she held, it is obvious that Underwood is an extreme animal lover, and later she even took it a step further by becoming a vegan. She was quoted as saying: "Ever since I was little I loved animals..... If you told me I could never sing again, I'd say that was horrible, but it's not my life.

If you told me I could never be around animals again, I would just die." Later on in her career, she was named “World's Sexiest Vegetarian" by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) twice! Carrie Underwood auditioned for American Idol, a FOX channel televised singing competition show, in 2004. While on the show, Simon Cowell gave her a huge compliment: “I will make a prediction now, not only will you win this competition, but you will go on to sell more albums than any other previous winners of this show."

Underwood's vocal range is 2 octaves, D3 to G#5, making her a mezzo-soprano. She has a really powerful voice but she can channel it to make it soft, like her head voice is really soft. However, sometimes her chest notes sound forced when she's belting. In 2005, her debut album, Some Hearts, became a record-breaker for being the fastest selling debut country album, best-selling female debut album in country music history, and best-selling country album of the past decade. It also won three Grammies. Much of its success may have come from the hype she built up by being on Idol. Underwood went on to be the biggest American Idol earner, fourth biggest album seller of the past decade. To date, she has sold more than 30 million singles and 16 million albums worldwide. Probably her best-known song is "Before He Cheats", off her debut album "Some Hearts".

As a multi-platinum selling recording artist, she went on to earn many awards, including 6 Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, 7 American Music Awards, 10 Academy of Country Music Awards, Two-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, and a place in the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Aside from recording music, Underwood sang songs for numerous movie soundtracks and guest-starred on multiple TV shows/movies. Underwood once guest-starred on Sesame Street as "Carrie Underworm” to sing “The Worm Anthem.” On December 5, 2013, Carrie appeared in a three hour made-for-television production of The Sound of Music as Maria Von Trapp. She co-wrote and sang “There's a place for Us”, a song for the movie Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010, as well as sang “Ever Ever After" for the Disney movie Enchanted.