Kimberley Locke Biography (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Kimberley Dawn Locke (born January 3 1978 in Hartsville, Tennessee) is an American adult contemporary pop/R&B singer and plus-size fashion model. In recent years, Locke has had five consecutive top 10 Adult Contemporary hits, including two #1 songs.

She gained fame with her participation in the 2003 American Idol television series, and in 2007 garnered media attention for her participation in Celebrity Fit Club.

Biography

Early life

Locke was born to Donald and Christine Locke, respectively a truck driver and a clothing warehouse worker for the Gap/Old Navy distribution center in Gallatin, Tennessee. She is the second of two children, with an older brother named Ashley (both of whom are biracial; their father is African-American and their mother is white). She and her brother spent most of their life in Gallatin. At age five, Locke began singing in church. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old.

Locke grew up admiring such singers as Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston and Diana Ross. In 1987, she and childhood friends Chandra Boone, Selina Robb, and NaCole Rice formed a quartet named Shadz of U, which performed at many local churches. The group later appeared on Locke's 2007 'Based On A True Story' album, singing backup on 'Everyday Angels'.

Locke went to Gallatin High School, where she was one of sixteen members to participate in its performing group. She remained in the group throughout her high-school years. She was also selected twice as a member of the All-Middle State Chorus. After graduating, she began to work for a company in Nashville as an administrative assistant.

Like 2007 American Idol finalist Melinda Doolittle, Locke is an alumni of Belmont University in Nashville.

American Idol and Singing career

On October 30, 2002, the reality-TV singing competition American Idol held auditions in Nashville, Tennessee for the show's second season. Locke successfully passed through to the next round, and in December was chosen to perform on the show. She finished third, behind runner up Clay Aiken and eventual champion Ruben Studdard. Simon Cowell at first criticized Locke as lacking in personality; by the final three however, he declared her, Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard to be as worthy winners as any.

Locke went on to sign a record deal with Curb Records on September 6, 2003. Her debut album, One Love, was released May 4, 2004. Debut single "8th World Wonder" reached the top half of the Billboard Hot 100 and was successful on other charts, and even entered the UK chart with little promotion. "Wrong" and "I Could" followed as singles and were hits on the Pop and Adult Contemporary charts respectively. "Coulda Been" was the album's only single not to chart.

Locke released her version of "Up On The Housetop" in Fall 2005 and by the end of year it had reached the top spot of the AC charts and broke many records, due to its quick rise to the top. The following year, Kimberley's version of "Jingle Bells" was released and topped the same charts. A full Christmas album is scheduled for release on November 6, 2007.

Locke's second album, Based On A True Story, was released on May 1, 2007. The album's original lead single, "Supawoman", co-written with her producers Damon Sharpe and Mark J. Feist, was released to radio August 7, 2006, however after underwhelming radio support, Curb Records decided to refocus. "Change", was released to radio on January 15, 2007 to positive support and climbed the charts well into the summer of 2007. The album's 3rd single is a cover of Freda Payne's "Band Of Gold", which was released to radio on August 13, 2007 and became Locke's 6th solo Adult Contemporary Top 20 hit.

Songs performed on American Idol

Original Audition: "Over The Rainbow" by Judy Garland.

Round	Song Choice	Original Artist	Theme (if any)	Result
Hollywood	"Band Of Gold" (with Frenchie Davis)	Freda Payne	Group Performances	Safe
Top 32	"Over The Rainbow"	Judy Garland	Semifinal Group 2	Top 2
Top 12	"Heat Wave"	Martha And The Vandellas	Motown	Bottom 3
Top 11	"Home"	Diana Ross	Movie Hits	Safe
Top 10	"I Can't Make You Love Me"	Bonnie Raitt	Country-Rock	Safe
Top 9	"It's Raining Men"	Weather Girls	Disco	Bottom 3
Top 8	"My Heart Will Go On"	Celine Dion	Billboard #1	Bottom 3
Top 7	"New York State of Mind"	Billy Joel	Billy Joel	Safe
Top 6	"If You Asked Me To"	Patti LaBelle	Diane Warren	Safe
Top 5	"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" "Where The Boys Are"	Gladys Knight & The Pips Connie Francis	60s Neil Sedaka	Safe
Top 4	"I Just Want To Be Your Everything" "Emotion"	Andy Gibb Samantha Sang	Bee Gees	Bottom 2
Top 3	"Band Of Gold" "Anyone Who Had a Heart" "Inseparable"	Freda Payne Dionne Warwick Natalie Cole	Random Judge's Choice Idol's Choice	Eliminated

Discography

Albums

Album cover	Album information
	One Love Released: May 4, 2004 Peak Chart positions: #16 U.S. Billboard 200 #21 United World Chart U.S. Sales: 212,000 copies RIAA certification: N.A. Singles: 1. 8th World Wonder 2. Wrong 3. Coulda Been 4. I Could
	Based on a True Story Released: May 1, 2007 Peak Chart positions: #160 U.S. Billboard 200 U.S. Sales: 15,000 copies RIAA certification: N.A. Singles: 1. Supawoman 2. Change 3. Band Of Gold
	Christmas Expected Release: November 6, 2007

Singles

Year	Title	Billboard Chart Positions (North America)								Album
Year	Title	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. Top 40	U.S. AC	U.S. Hot AC	Hot Dance Club ¹	Dance Singles Sales ¹	Hot Singles Sales	CAN AC	Album
2003	"Silver Bells" (with Clay Aiken)	-	-	16	-	-	-	-	-	American Idol: Great Holiday Classics
2004	"8th World Wonder"	49	19	6	36	-	1	1	16	One Love
2004	"Wrong"	-	39	-	-	-	-	-	-
2005	"Coulda Been"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	"I Could"	-	-	8	-	-	-	-	18
	"Up On the House Top"	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	Curb Brings In The Holidays
2006	"Supawoman"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Based on a True Story
2006	"Jingle Bells"	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	Curb Brings In The Holidays Vol. 2
2007	"Change"	-	-	6	-	1	-	-	-	Based on a True Story
2007	"Band Of Gold" ²	-	-	19	-	-	-	-	-	Based on a True Story

¹ Remixed dance versions.
² Current single.

Other recordings

2003: "Ammon" - New Blues Sessions (backing vocals)
2003: "Over the Rainbow" (American Idol Season 2: All Time Classic American Love Songs)
2003: "God Bless the USA" (along with the other Idols of AI2) (American Idol Season 2: All Time Classic American Love Songs)
2003: "What the World Needs Now" (along with the other Idols of AI2) (American Idol Season 2: All Time Classic American Love Songs)
2003: "The Christmas Song" (American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics)
2003: "O Come, All Ye Faithful" (Group performance) (American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics)
2003: "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (Group performance) (American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics)
2005: "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" (DisneyMania 3)
2005: "Wishes" (duet with Peabo Bryson) (Wishes)
2005: "Better Than This" (The Perfect Man)
2005: "Come Together Now" (Multi-artist charity single) (Come Together Now Collaborative)

Musical achievements

Locke was the first Idol finalist to debut at #1 on the singles sales charts with a non-Idol single ("8th World Wonder").
Locke was the second Idol finalist (with Kelly Clarkson) to have two consecutive top-40 hits ("8th World Wonder" & "Wrong")
"Up On The Housetop" made the largest leap into the top 5 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in the chart's history, jumping from #32 to #5 in just one week.
"Up On The Housetop" became the fifth song in the history of Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart to reach the top spot in only three weeks. It was the second-longest running holiday-themed chart-topper in the history of the chart [4 weeks], behind Josh Groban's "Believe" [5 weeks].
Locke's version of "Jingle Bells" had the highest charting debut week on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in 2006, debuting at #17. Even though hundreds of artists have recorded the song, Locke's recording was the first to ever top the Billboard AC chart.
In an Entertainment Weekly magazine, "8th World Wonder" was listed as one of the top 5 songs to come out of American Idol.
To date, all five of Locke's solo single releases in the Adult Contemporary genre have reached Billboard's top 10 chart.
To date, Locke is the only American Idol finalist to top Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart with an original song. The only other alumni from the show to top this chart was Jennifer Hudson with her cover of And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going from the Dreamgirls musical.

Television career

Whilst pursuing her music career, Locke was also interested in becoming a television star. Since 2005, Locke has featured on many television shows.

In August 2004, Locke was invited to be a guest host on Good Day Live, and was invited back to co-host twice more. In 2005, she was a contestant on the game show, Family Feud, and she hosted Word Slam!, a GSN live game show; an accompanying documentary with Locke aired on that cable channel that September. Throughout the summer of 2005, a proposed reality TV series, Aren't You That Girl?, taped Locke's progress on her second album and preparations for her upcoming wedding. The engagement was later called off and the project was cancelled. During MTV's early fall 2006 lineup, Locke was a judge and co-host on the short lived reality-show competition "The Little Talent Show".

Locke sat in as a guest co-host of The View in March 2007.

Celebrity Fit Club: Men vs. Women

In November 2006, VH1 issued a press release confirming that Locke would be a participant on the fifth season of Celebrity Fit Club, which began airing on April 22, 2007. She has been the focused target of derision from fellow cast member Dustin Diamond, who has repeatedly called her "a loser on another show [American Idol]." Later, he says, "She is a nobody...If there were eight of her here, nobody would watch the show." She responded on-camera at a weigh-in ceremony, "Two-faced, backstabbing people who will smile in your face one day and eat you up the next. That's why I don't have anything to do with you...If you even fucking look at me, Dustin. [Because] you talk about losers? Let's talk about 'I'm a fucking child star. Now I've got a porn tape on TV and selling T-shirts to pay for my house note.'" He later walked off the stage. He later offered her a sex toy in the shape of his penis, saying that she "needed one". The ensuing argument caused all other contestents to leave the stage.

On June 17, 2007, the season finale of Celebrity Fit Club aired, drawing in 2.7 million viewers, the show's highest yet. Kimberley weighed in at a final weight of 149lbs, down a total of 27lbs. from her original start weight of 176lbs. She has stated that she would like to lose a total of 10lbs. before her endorsement deal as Jenny Craig's newest spokesperson begins. A feature in the September 10th issue of People Magazine shows Kimberley at 141lbs., only 3 pounds away from her goal.

Modeling career

From 2005 through September 2006, Locke was signed with Ford Models. She has appeared on the covers of the July 2005 issue of Figure magazine and the summer 2007 issue of UneQ magazine. She is a plus-size model and former spokesperson for Lane Bryant and Seven7 Jeans. She also had a lingerie line with Lane Bryant's sister company, Cacique. In December 2006, Locke signed a deal with Jenny Craig.

Business career

In 1999, Locke enrolled at Belmont University and graduated in August 2001 with a Bachelor's degree of Business Administration in Marketing. In December 2006, Locke, with partners Eric Kupferberg, Liam Harvey and Jim Stake, opened the Croton Creek Steakhouse & Wine Bar. It is located in Croton Falls, New York.

Kimberley Locke Day

July 25th 2007 was named "Kimberley Locke Day" in Worcester Massachusettes. A free event was hosted by local radio station WSRS (www.wsrs.com), and included a meet and greet for fans. In addition, she was presented the key to the city.

Videography

"8th World Wonder" (2004) directed by Sam Erickson.
"Wrong" (2004) directed by Urban Strom.
"Coulda Been" (2004) directed by Urban Strom.
"Change" (2007) directed by Roman White.

Awards and nominations

New Music Awards

2005: Nominated - Female Adult Contemporary Artist Of The Year

Teen Choice Awards

2003: Nominated - Choice TV Reality/Variety Star - Female
2004: Nominated - Favorite Love Song - "8th World Wonder"

References in pop culture

American Idol judge Simon Cowell, in his book, I Don't Mean to be Rude, but..., referred to Locke as looking like "an overweight librarian".
A reference to Kimberley straightening her naturally curly hair on an episode of American Idol, and as a result getting a comment from Simon Cowell that he was glad she got rid of her "weird hair", is included in the book Wanting To Be Her: Body Image Secrets Victoria Won't Tell You by Michelle Graham.

Kimberley Locke