Kris Allen

With his soulful, folksy interpretations of modern pop songs and a nice-guy image, Kris Allen managed to win over millions of voters to become the season eight winner of Fox's hit reality competition series, "American Idol" (2002-16). Kristopher Neil Allen was born on June 21, 1985 in Jacksonville, AR to Kim Allen and Neil Allen, a former musician. The future "Idol" winner's interest in music began at an early age; in elementary school, he played the viola, and then taught himself to play the guitar, piano and ukulele at age 13. After high school, Allen moved to Conway, AR to study business at the University of Central Arkansas, but he dropped out in his junior year to release an album titled Brand New Shoes (2006). In 2008, Allen's younger brother persuaded him to audition for the eighth season of "American Idol" in Louisville, KY. While he failed to impress judge Simon Cowell, who told the soft-spoken hopeful that he lacked personality, Allen advanced to the semi-finals round in Hollywood.

Throughout the heated competition, Allen was viewed as the "dark horse," but he steadily gained fans for his folk-inspired interpretation of songs like Michael Jackson's "Remember the Time" (1992) and Bill Withers' hit single "Ain't No Sunshine." Before he nabbed a spot in the Top 2, Allen took a huge risk and performed a stripped-down version of Kanye West's "Heartless" (2008), accompanied only by an acoustic guitar. It paid off. He was soon pitted against Adam Lambert, whose provocative outfits, powerful vocals, and headline-making antics made him the season-long front-runner. In the finals, however, Allen clinched the highly coveted title in what was considered one of the competition's biggest upsets. In November 2009, Allen released his self-titled debut album featuring his version of "Heartless" and the lead single, "Live Like We're Dying." After the album's first week of sales, it sold a disappointing 80,000 copies, making it one of the lowest debuts for any "Idol" winner.