Carrie Marie Underwood was born on March 10, 1983, in Oklahoma, USA. Raised in her hometown, she began singing in churches at a young age, where she developed her love for music, particularly religious music, which greatly influenced her early career. This foundation in religious music instilled in her a strong sense of faith and spirituality, elements that have permeated much of her work throughout her career. In 2002, she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah with aspirations of becoming a journalist. However, her life took a dramatic turn when she participated in American Idol two years later, eventually winning the fourth season of the competition in 2005.
Her victory on American Idol came with a recording contract from Arista Records, also known as 19 Recordings, leading to the release of her debut album, Some Hearts, in 2005.
The huge commercial success of Underwood’s first album established her as a promising alumnus of the American Idol. She toured with Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley in a 150-show in 2006 in support of her album. She decided to complete her graduation in the same year and passed her BA in mass communications with distinction for her alma mater.
‘Inside Your Heaven’ ranked 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and her other songs from her album like ‘Jesus, Take the Wheel’ and ‘Before He Cheats’ were a massive hit. One year later, she won 3 Grammy Awards for her album including the best new artist. She featured in an episode of American idol.
Underwood featured in an episode of American idol in 2007 and sang a song by Pretenders, I will stand by you”. The Underwood cover is available on iTunes service on demand. The song was downloaded more than 300,000 times making it the first digitally released track to reach the top ten tracks of singles Billboard chart.
She was awarded as Single of the year 2007 for her peppy and groovy song ‘Before he cheats’ at the CMA or Country Music Association Awards. Carnival Ride was released in 2007. Her second album sold over half a million copies in its first week of release. She rose to prominence after this success and was inducted as a member of the coveted Grand Ole Opry in 2008 becoming one of the members of the 200 member group.
She again bagged an award at CMA Award for female vocalist of the year. This was her third and co-hosted the award ceremony with Paisley. After a year, she won her fourth Grammy’s for the best female country vocal performance.
Her duet with Travis ‘I Told You So’ which originally featured in her album Carnival Ride was released in 2010 winning her another Grammy in the category of best country collaboration. In the same year, the Academy of Country Music named her entertainer of the year for the second time consecutively.
She never backed down after her success. My Gift and My Saviour, her recent albums were released in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Both of them topped the country music album charts in the USA. Find Your Path: Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul, and Get Strong with the Fit52 Life are some of her motivational and self-help groups establishing her as an accomplished author. She has been referred to as ‘Reigning Queen of the Country Music’.
