Crystal Lynn Bowersox (born August 4, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter and actress, who was the runner-up on the ninth season of American Idol. She is the third runner-up to never be in the bottom 3 in the Idol series, and the first female finalist in three years.

Bowersox's debut album, Farmer's Daughter, was released on December 14, 2010 by Jive Records.

Early life

Bowersox and her twin brother, Carl, were born in Elliston, Ohio. She attended Oak Harbor High School in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and later attended the Toledo School for the Arts in Toledo, Ohio. She was in choir and played flute in the school marching band. Bowersox performed her first professional gig at the age of 10. She appeared at local bars in Toledo, most popularly Papa's Tavern, and The Village Idiot in Maumee, Ohio. At the age of 17, she moved to Chicago looking for opportunity. She most commonly played as a busker at several train stations, including the Washington and Lake Redline stops. She frequented open mics, such as the Uncommon Ground Clark and Grace, and Devon locations. She also played extensively in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. In 2006, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs chose Bowersox to represent Chicago folk musicians in the Sister Cities program "Experience Chicago", held in Birmingham, England. In 2007, Bowersox traveled internationally on an independent small cafe tour, including Memphis, Tennessee, Oaxaca, Mexico, and Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey.

American Idol

Bowersox auditioned for American Idol in Chicago, Illinois. She sang "Piece of My Heart." Guest judge Shania Twain commented that she had a "raw, natural talent."

On March 2, 2010, Bowersox was hospitalized because of complications from type 1 diabetes, forcing a last minute switch in scheduling to give her extra time to recuperate. Bowersox confirmed the illness on the May 19, 2010 results show during an interview with host Ryan Seacrest. The men competed that day instead of the women. She sang the next day and impressed all of the judges.

The following week, her strong performance prompted Simon Cowell to state, "Right now, you are the one everyone has to beat."

After Siobhan Magnus's elimination from the top 6 of American Idol, Bowersox became the last remaining female contestant in the competition.

Bowersox is the first female contestant to make it to the finale since Jordin Sparks won the title in 2007. She is also the first contestant in American Idol history to have one of their original songs played on the show, or at least during their hometown package. Crystal's original song "Holy Toledo" was played on the May 19 Top 3 Results show as the background music for her homecoming package - when she returned to Toledo, Ohio and Elliston, Ohio the previous weekend - and segued into her live performance of the same song at "Bowerstock".

During her time on Idol, Bowersox dated Tony Kusian, but the couple broke up just hours before the Idol finale.

On the final performance day, in Simon Cowell's final critique on American Idol, he called her performance of "Up to the Mountain" "outstanding" and "by far, the best performance and song of the night".

On May 26, 2010, Bowersox was named runner-up to winner Lee DeWyze. She announced that after her Idol career, she wants to bring more awareness to type 1 diabetes.

Bowersox is the third Idol Runner-Up behind Clay Aiken and David Archuleta to never be in the Bottom 3 or Bottom 2.

Performances

Episode	Theme	Song choice	Original recording artist	Order #	Result
Audition	Auditioner's Choice	"Piece of My Heart"	Erma Franklin	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Week	First Solo	"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"	Aretha Franklin	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Week	Group Round	"Get Ready"	The Temptations	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Week	Second Solo	"If It Makes You Happy"	Sheryl Crow	N/A	Advanced
Top 24 (12 Women)	Billboard Hot 100 Hits	"Hand in My Pocket"	Alanis Morissette	11	Safe
Top 20 (10 Women)		"Long as I Can See the Light"	Creedence Clearwater Revival	1	Safe
Top 16 (8 Women)		"Give Me One Reason"	Tracy Chapman	7	Safe
Top 12	The Rolling Stones	"You Can't Always Get What You Want"	The Rolling Stones	12	Safe
Top 11	Billboard Number 1 Hits	"Me and Bobby McGee"	Roger Miller	5	Safe
Top 10	R&B/Soul	"Midnight Train to Georgia"	Cissy Houston	9	Safe
Top 9	Lennon-McCartney	"Come Together"	The Beatles	5	Safe
Top 9	Elvis Presley	"Saved"	LaVern Baker	1	Safe
Top 7	Inspirational	"People Get Ready"	The Impressions	7	Safe
Top 6	Shania Twain	"No One Needs to Know"	Shania Twain	4	Safe
Top 5	Frank Sinatra	"Summer Wind"	Wayne Newton	3	Safe
Top 4	Songs of the Cinema	Duet "Falling Slowly" " Once with Lee DeWyze	Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová	3	Safe
		Solo "I'm Alright" " Caddyshack	Kenny Loggins	5
Top 3	Contestant's Choice	"Come to My Window"	Melissa Etheridge	2	Safe
	Judges' Choice	"Maybe I'm Amazed"	Paul McCartney	5
Top 2	Contestant's Choice	"Me and Bobby McGee"	Roger Miller	2	Runner-up
	Simon Fuller's Choice	"Black Velvet"	Alannah Myles	4
	First Single	"Up to the Mountain"	Solomon Burke	6

• ^ Due to the judges using their one 'save' for Michael Lynche, the Top 9 remained intact for another week.
• ^ Though Crystal Bowersox was the last contestant announced to be 'safe' and moving on to the Top 3, Ryan Seacrest stressed on the Top 4 Results Night that 'safe' contestants would be announced "in no particular order." Thus, the audience has no way of knowing which of the Top 3 was the second-lowest vote-getter that night after Michael Lynche, who was eliminated.
• ^ Song selected by Ellen DeGeneres.

Post-Idol career

On May 27, 2010, one day after Bowersox's second place Idol finish, it was announced that she had signed with Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment and with Jive Records. Her single "Up to the Mountain" has since been released to radio stations and iTunes.

2010-12: Farmer's Daughter

Bowersox's debut album Farmer's Daughter was released to stores and iTunes on December 14, 2010. Bowersox performed her single "Farmer's Daughter" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on December 16, 2010.

On October 7, 2011 RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, all other artists previously signed to these three labels would see their future material released under the RCA Records brand. However, Bowersox was not one of the artists who made the move, and was instead left without a record label.

She made her acting debut on a second season episode of Body of Proof.

An EP of pre-Idol recordings called Once Upon a Time... was released in June 2012.

She was a guest on the Blues Traveler album Suzie Cracks the Whip performing back-up vocals on the song "I Don't Wanna Go" and appeared with them in concert at their July 4, 2012 concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.

2012-present: 2nd Album

In October, 2012, Bowersox signed a recording deal with Shanachie Records.

On January 7, 2013, it was confirmed that Bowersox's sophomore studio album will be released in March 2013. The album will be produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos and will feature Jakob Dylan.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak				Certifications
		US	US Rock	US Digital	CAN
2010	Farmer's Daughter Release date: December 14, 2010 Label: Jive/19 Format: CD, digital download	28	2	8	90	US: 205,000
2013	TBA Release date: March 2013 Label: Shanachie Records Format: CD, digital download	—	—	—	—

Digital albums

Year	Album	Peak		Sales
		US Heat	US Indie
2010	Season 9 Favorite Performances Release date: May 2010 Label: 19 Format: digital download	6	38	US: 5,000
""" denotes releases that did not chart

Extended plays

List of EPs with relevant details

Year	Title	EP details
2012	Once Upon a Time...	Released: May 29, 2012 Label: self-release Format: Digital download, CD

Singles

Year	Single	Peak		Album
		US	CAN
2010	"Up to the Mountain"	57	47	non-album single
	"Farmer's Daughter"	—	73	Farmer's Daughter
2011	"Ridin' with the Radio"	—	—
""" denotes releases that did not chart

Digital singles

Year	Single	Peak		Album
		US	CAN
2010	"Falling Slowly" (with Lee DeWyze)	66	70	non-album single
""" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Song	Director(s)
2010	"Farmer's Daughter"	Meiert Avis
2011	"Mine all Mine"	n/a

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2011	Body of Proof	Zoe Brant	Episode: "Second Chances"

Awards and nominations

Year	Presenter	Award	Result
2010	Teen Choice Awards	Female Reality/Variety Star

Personal life

Bowersox and musician Brian Walker were married on October 10, 2010, at Uncommon Ground Café in Chicago, the restaurant where the couple had met six years earlier while both performing at Open Mic Night.

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