Kellie Pickler was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother, Cynthia
Morton, gave birth to her at age 18 and
abandoned Kellie when she was two years old, and
her father, Clyde "Bo" Pickler, Jr., described
by Kellie as having had a lifetime problem with
drugs and alcohol, served a 3 year 9 month
prison sentence at Florida State Prison for
aggravated assault and battery stemming from a
2003 stabbing incident. He was released on May
6, 2006 a week after his daughter was eliminated
from American Idol.
Kellie Pickler later moved to
Albemarle, North Carolina, where she lived with
her grandfather, Clyde Pickler Sr., and her
grandmother Faye Pickler until her grandmother's
death in January 2002. She continued to live
with her grandfather and her younger brother
Eric until she became a contestant on Idol. She
graduated in the class of 2004 from North Stanly
High School in New London, NC, though she was an
average C student and frequently failed tests.
She sang On The Side of Angels by LeAnn Rimes at
her graduation commencement from North Stanly in
2004. She has worked as a waitress at a Sonic
Drive In franchise. As an active participant in
the Miss America circuit, Kellie Pickler won the
"Miss Stanly County" pageant at age 17 and
subsequently competed for Miss North Carolina
2004. In 2005, she made an appearance on WSOC-TV's
Gimme the Mike! contest and took second
place. She attended Stanly Community
College, studying cosmetology.
The 19-year-old Kellie Pickler auditioned for
American Idol in the fall of 2005 in Greensboro, North
Carolina. She sang both Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and
Martina McBride's "A Broken Wing". The judges unanimously sent
her to Hollywood. Kellie Pickler advanced through the
semi-finalist rounds in February and March, reaching the Top 12
On March 9.
Kellie Pickler gained attention on the show
by saying (for example) that she had never performed before real
audiences, pronouncing "salmon" as "sal-mon", "calamari" as "cali-mar-y",
and confusing "minx" with "mink." She also amused many people
with her false eyelash incident, saying that it felt as if there
were "tarantulas on her eyes". She was compared to Jessica
Simpson in a March 27 story in US Weekly magazine
entitled "Kellie: The Next Jessica Simpson", due to her "sweet
southern style and ditzy demeanor." Later in a J-14 article, she
responded to the comparison by saying "Vocally, Jessica's great,
and she's beautiful." Various Internet blogs alleged that Kellie
Pickler was merely putting on an act in order to win votes. Host
Ryan Seacrest asked Kellie Pickler about the allegations during
the April 4 broadcast, and she denied the claims. On April 19,
Kellie Pickler and contestant Taylor Hicks became the only
contestants among the rest of the Top 6 to never be in the
bottom 3. That changed on April 26 when she was in the bottom 2
and then eliminated. Due to time constraints, her exit
performance was not aired on the show, which happened to be the
first time this occurred in American Idol history. Her exit
performance was later shown when she appeared on Extra.
She returned in the finale to sing several
songs with the other finalists; she was also featured in a
pre-taped segment called "Puck 'n Pickler", in which she was
introduced to some unusual food by chef Wolfgang Puck for comic
effect.
