Kelly Clarkson explored her heritage when she appeared on TLC's ancestry-themed series Who Do You Think You Are?. She was excited to discover that her great-great-great-grandfather, Isaiah Rose, was a Civil War veteran who became a sheriff, then a Republican Ohio State Senator in 1906. "I could not be more proud of this man," the singer said as she leafed through historical documents detailing Rose's service, including his time as a prisoner of war.
She became a coach on The Voice in 2018. It went so well, she got her own daytime talk show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, the following year.
Clarkson belted out "
My Country, 'Tis Of Thee" at President Obama's 2013 inauguration, but it was Beyonce's "
The Star Spangled Banner" that drew more media attention. While Clarkson gave a passionate live performance, Beyoncé (eventually) admitted she lip-synched hers, which Clarkson thought was completely understandable.
When asked for her opinion about the controversy, she told Nashvillegab.com: "It really didn't matter to me; take it from a girl that has stood there. It's the most nerve-wracking environment I've ever been in. Everything in your heart and soul is praying to God that you don't mess up. And why is it, because that event isn't about me or Beyoncé or James Taylor, we're just the jazz hands on the side. It's about the President and it's a historical event and it's about our country. I could totally see why someone wouldn't want to mess that up and pre-tape it."
As for the practice of lip-synching, Clarkson confided that she's never done it so far because she's terrified something will go wrong, like "the track would skip."
Clarkson joined Reba McEntire's family when she married the country singer's stepson, Brandon Blackstock, on October 20, 2013. McEntire's husband, Narvel Blackstock, was Clarkson's manager at the time. Along with the nuptials came two stepchildren - daughter Savannah and son Seth - from Brandon's previous marriage. They had two children together before Kelly filed for divorce on June 4, 2020. Songs like "
I Hate Love" on her 2023 album
Chemistry are a reaction to their split.
In 2012, Clarkson nearly became the envy of every Jane Austen fan when she bid on a rare piece of the author's jewelry at a Sotheby's auction in London. The singer was willing to pay over $230,000 for a turquoise and gold ring she hoped to use as her engagement ring, but the British government wasn't ready to part with the item without a fight. Culture minister Ed Vaizey pleaded with potential UK buyers to claim the "national treasure" for the nation. Someone listened and anonymously bid against Clarkson and won. As a consolation, her husband (then fiancé) had a replica made for her.
The production of Clarkson's third album, My December, was rife with controversy. Gossip rags caught wind of a feud between the singer and music mogul Clive Davis, who was then the head of Sony-BMG, and gathered every scathing quote and juicy tidbit they could. Davis feared the darker tone of the album would affect sales and even wanted Clarkson to eschew her own original songs for lighter pop covers to make the record more commercial. Clarkson dug in her heels and refused to alter her work (and rightfully so - it was certified Platinum).
After the album's release in June, 2007, she downplayed the conflict on her website, stating, "Much of this has been blown way out of proportion and taken out of context. Contrary to recent characterizations in the press, I'm well aware that Clive is one of the great record men of all time. He has been a key advisor and has been an important force in my success to date."
Contrary, indeed, to her own words. She made it perfectly clear in an earlier interview with USA Weekend that she didn't include Davis as part of her professional family: "I'm going to be real honest with you: I am not a fan. I do respect him [Clive Davis], but I don't want to barbecue with him. We don't braid each other's hair. And despite the rumors, he is nowhere near a father figure."
The Beatles' fandom took a crushing blow in 2002 when Clarkson's debut single,"
A Moment Like This," beat the band's 38-year-old record of a single's biggest leap to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. "
Can't Buy Me Love" jumped from #27 to #1 in 1964, while "A Moment Like This" rocketed from #52 to the top in its second week. Since then, the record has been broken numerous times (changes in eligibility have made it an easier feat), but Clarkson secured the title again with a whopping jump from #97 with "
My Life Would Suck Without You" in 2009.
Remember when the shark in Jaws tore into Robert Shaw until blood gushed out of his screaming mouth? Kelly Clarkson does, too. She blames the Spielberg movie for ruining her dream of becoming a marine biologist (someone should tell her the marine biologist, played by Richard Dreyfuss, survived in the end).
Growing up in Burleson, Texas, she had a number of odd jobs. She worked at Eckerd drug store, a movie theater, and a comedy club (where she was a waitress). One of her favorite gigs was doing promotions for Red Bull - she would drive around giving away the energy drinks.
As a teenager, she performed at the theme park Six Flags Over Texas. She had made a demo tape and dreamed of moving to New York or Los Angeles to pursue a career in music, and she got that opportunity in 2001 when a girl she was working with moved to LA and needed a roommate. Her dreams were crushed when she went broke, but after returning to Texas, she auditioned for a new show called American Idol, which worked out well for her.
When she first moved to Los Angeles, she worked as an extra - you might be able to spot her in the background on episodes of Dharma & Greg and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
Kelly Clarkson is the first
American Idol contestant to score 100 #1s on Billboard's national domestic music charts, current, recurrent and catalog. She achieved this milestone when "
Piece by Piece" jumped to the top of Digital Songs and Pop Digital Songs chart in March 2016.
Clarkson started writing songs because she had trouble communicating when she was younger. Her mom asked her to start journaling, and she found herself writing poems that she turned into music. "That's how I would process my feelings," she explained.
She revealed during a special show for SiriusXM listeners at New York City's Highline Ballroom that Brandon Blackstock was the first man she was "sexually attracted" to. Previous boyfriends didn't excite her.
"I honestly thought I was asexual," she noted, before adding that everything changed for her when she met Brandon. "I'd never been turned on like that in my whole life," she gushed. "I was like, 'Oh that's that feeling... okay! That's what they were talking about in Waiting to Exhale.' I just got it. I just didn't have a clue."
Clarkson didn't want to finish first on American Idol because the winner was contractually bound to make a musical rom-com, and she knew she was "no Meryl Streep." After she was declared the champ, Clarkson pleaded to be relieved from the contractual obligation to star in a film, but she couldn't get out of it.
The American Idol winner's fears were realized. The film Clarkson made, From Justin to Kelly, was panned by the critics and won the Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst 'Musical' of Our First 25 Years" in 2005.
Clarkson portrayed the singer Brenda Lee on
American Dreams, a nostalgic TV series set in the 1960s; she performed Lee's enduring Christmas staple "
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and her hit "Sweet Nothin's."
Clarkson was thrilled to step into a legend's shoes, but she initially had a different legend in mind: jazz and pop singer Rosemary Clooney, whom she calls her "all-time favorite performer." After recording the show, though, she had a new appreciation for Lee. She told
Soundspike.com: "My mom told me about Brenda Lee and I got to know a lot more about her when I did the show. She's very cool. She was very Rock. She started out doing country and then she got real rock. That was cool."
Kelly hates the sound of her speaking voice so much, she won't leave voice mails.
Clarkson won her first Grammy Awards in 2006 (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "
Since U Been Gone"; Best Pop Vocal Album for
Breakaway). She also performed "
Because Of You" on the show, but under extreme duress.
"I was called right as I was leaving for the Grammys and was told I had cancerous results," she said on Conan O'Brien's podcast in 2023. "The next morning, I called back to schedule an appointment, and they said, 'We're so sorry. Those were actually someone else's results.'"
Despite being widely regarded as a pop star, Kelly Clarkson was once told during a lunch meeting with industry insiders that if she didn't abandon pop music and go fully into country, her music wouldn't be played on country radio. As much as she loves country music - having grown up with it in Texas and even releasing
a duet with Vince Gill - Kelly chose to stay true to her genre-hopping style, rejecting the idea of being pigeonholed into one genre. Ironically, she's often introduced as a "country music superstar" despite never having released a country album!
As a kid, Kelly Clarkson didn't go on summer vacations - at least, not in the traditional sense. "We were poor," she told an audience during a Q&A session on The Kelly Clarkson Show, "so we played in the backyard." But Kelly's mom got creative. Instead of family photo albums filled with beaches and landmarks, young Kelly was pasted into adventures. Literally.
Her mom would cut out Kelly's school portrait and glue it onto scenic backgrounds: mountains, deserts, even the Swiss Alps. "It was like an artsy thing," Kelly laughed. "We didn't have vacation pics, so she made them."
