Kelly Brianne Clarkson, known simply as Kelly Clarkson was born on April 24, 1982 in Fort Worth, Texas grew up in the small town of Burleson, Texas. She is the third and youngest child of Jeanne Rose, a first grade teacher, and Stephen Michael Clarkson, a former engineer. When Clarkson was six years old, her parents split up after seventeen years of marriage. She sang at her high school talent show, after which a gentleman shared some inspiring words with her: "God has given you this gift. You’ve got to sing. You’re destined to sing". She then started her classical training hoping that music would be her ticket to a college scholarship. Upon high school graduation, Clarkson was offered full scholarships to The University of Texas at Austin, University of North Texas, and Berklee but declined them to pursue a music career. Kelly Clarkson entered the television singing competition American Idol. Kelly Clarkson won the first season of American Idol on September 4, 2002, earning 58% of the vote to 42% for Justin Guarini. April 15, 2003 she released her debut album Thankful. The album went on to be certified double platinum, with almost 3 million copies sold. Since then she has released three studio albums, Breakaway in 2004, My December in 2007 and All I Ever Wanted in 2009. Kelly Clarkson has sold over 10.1 million albums in the United States thus far.
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