Diana Degarmo Biography (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Diana Nicole DeGarmo (born June 16, 1987 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American singer and Broadway actress. She was the second place finalist to winner Fantasia Barrino on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, narrowly missing the win by about 2% (approximately 1.3 million votes) out of over 65 million votes. At 16, DeGarmo was the youngest contestant among the set of finalists in the third season; she was a junior in Snellville, Georgia at Shiloh High School.

DeGarmo recently starred on Broadway in the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical Hairspray as Penny Pingleton.

Biography

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, DeGarmo has been singing publicly from a young age, including at the 1997 Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards, and in stage productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Atlanta. As a third grade student, she was a Coca-Cola Kid during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The next year, she sang at Opryland USA during the Christmas holiday season. In 2002, she was named Miss Teen Georgia and was a finalist on the NBC talent search program America's Most Talented Kid.

She performed on the "American Idols Live" tour with the other season 3 Idol finalists during the summer of 2004. She toured independently in 2005 in support of Blue Skies.

DeGarmo is niece to Eddie DeGarmo of DeGarmo & Key.

American Idol

DeGarmo took part in the third season of American Idol, finishing second after a close race with winner Fantasia Barrino. DeGarmo was known for her power-house performances, as well as her ability to perform songs with ease at such a young age, as she was only 16 years old at the time of the show.

She started off as the first person to perform in the top 32, and was the 2nd person voted into the finals, after eventual winner Fantasia Barrino. However, she ended up in the bottom 3 in 3 of the first 5 shows. The surprising thing was, starting from the top 7, she never got into the bottom 3 or 2, and gradually become a frontrunner in the competition following the elimination of Hudson and London.

Performances

A record of what DeGarmo sang on the show can be found as follows:

• Top 32 Group 1: "I Got The Music In Me" by Kiki Dee
• Top 12 Soul Week: "Think" by Aretha Franklin
• Top 11 Country Week: "A Broken Wing" by Martina McBride - Bottom 3
• Top 10 Motown Week: "Do You Love Me" by The Contours
• Top 9 Elton John Week: "I'm Still Standing" by Elton John - Bottom 3
• Top 8 Movie Week: "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion - Bottom 3
• Top 7 Barry Manilow Week: "One Voice" by Barry Manilow
• Top 6 Gloria Estefan Week: "Turn The Beat Around" by Gloria Estefan
• Top 5 Special: "Think"
• Top 5 Big Band Week: "Someone to Watch Over Me" by Ella Fitzgerald, "Get Happy" by Judy Garland
• Top 4 Disco Week: "This Is It" by Melba Moore, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" by Donna Summer & Barbra Streisand - Highest Votes
• Top 3 Special: "Turn The Beat Around"
• Top 3 Judges Choice: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion, "Don't Cry Out Loud" by Melissa Manchester - Highest Votes
• Top 2 Finale Week: "I Believe", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)", "Don't Cry Out Loud"

Musical theatre

In November 2005 DeGarmo appeared as Maria in the American Musical Theatre of San Jose's production of West Side Story.

On February 7, 2006, she made her Broadway debut as Penny Pingleton in the musical Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theatre. She starred in the show until May 21, 2006. She later returned to the role from September 8, 2006 to February 11, 2007.

DeGarmo was cast in the lead role of Brooklyn in the national tour of BKLYN: The Musical over the summer of 2006. The production also starred Broadway favorites and Tony Award winners Melba Moore and Cleavant Derricks.

DeGarmo also performed in a musical concert, "In Your Dreams", in early October 2006 in a musical said to have a similar plot to High School Musical. DeGarmo performed alongside some of her Hairspray co-stars, and other Broadway stars as well.

Music

DeGarmo released a single, "Dreams," on June 29 2004. The song was co written by songwriter Chris Braide who also co wrote "This Is the Night" for Clay Aiken. It includes two other songs: her version of "I Believe" cowritten by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray and a remake of Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud".

DeGarmo's debut album, titled Blue Skies, was released on December 7, 2004, to opening week sales of 47,000. The album came in at #52 in the Billboard chart. As of November 2006, sales are at 300,000 copies. Her single "Emotional" again co-written by Chris Braide, Desmond Child and Andreas Carlsson, peaked at #54 on the Mediabase Pop Chart. Blue Skies has sold an additional 35,000 copies as of July 2007, with an estimated total of 335,000 copies.

DeGarmo appeared on the soundtrack for the 2005 Disney movie Ice Princess with the song "Reaching for Heaven", written by Desmond Child.

DeGarmo's second album is currently in progress. DeGarmo began recording her new album in 2005, and continued to record sporadically throughout 2006 and 2007 as she performed in Hairspray on Broadway. However, it was not until 2007 that DeGarmo fully dedicated her attention to the project. The second album will be pop/R&B and features all Atlanta-based songwriters and producers, including Grammy-winners such as Kandi Burruss, L-Roc, Dallas Austin; and Don Vito. DeGarmo will also be co-writing and co-producing on tracks. Per a Kandi Burruss associate, DonJuan Clark, on the forum middlechildpromotions.com, DeGarmo recorded a Kandi Burruss/Terius Nash/Don Vito track entitled "Blue Jeans" that was also recorded by Blaque. DeGarmo's version has not leaked but Blaque's has. A clip of "I Refuse" has also leaked on DeGarmo's MySpace page. The album is expected to released in fall 2007.

Awards and charts

DeGarmo's first single, "Dreams", debuted at #2 in record sales and went #1 on the Billboard US Singles Sales Chart.

On September 17, 2005, DeGarmo received the Horizon Award at the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame Awards ceremony. The award recognizes Georgia artists on the path to successful and lengthy careers.

Discography

Albums

• Blue Skies (2004) #52 US (RCA)
• Diana DeGarmo's Second Studio Album (2007)

Singles

• "Dreams" (2004) #1 (Sales Chart) #14 (Hot 100)
• "Emotional" (2004)

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