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Levi Strauss & Co.

Type	Private
Industry	Clothing
Founded	1853 (1853)
Founder(s)	Levi Strauss
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Number of locations	470 company-operated stores[1]
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Stephen C. Neal, Chairman of the Board Chip Bergh, President and CEO
Products	Jeans
Revenue	$4.4 billion (FY 2010)
Operating income	$381 million (FY 2010)
Net income	$157 million (FY 2010)
Total equity	- $1.59 billion (2010)
Owner(s)	Descendants of Levi Strauss
Employees	16,200 (FY 2010)
Website	Levi Strauss Homepage
References: Levi Strauss & Co.: Images of America, by Lynn Downey

Levi Strauss & Co. ( /ˌliːvaɪ ˈstrɔːs/), also known as LS&CO or simply Levi's, is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. In 1873 Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent to make the first riveted men's work pants out of denim: the first blue jeans. The company briefly experimented (in the 1970s) with a public stock listing, but remains owned and controlled by descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss's four nephews. The company's corporate headquarters is located at Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.^[2]

Organization[link]

Levi Strauss & Co. is a worldwide corporation organized into three geographic divisions: Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), based in the San Francisco headquarters; Levi Strauss Europe, Middle East and Africa (LSEMA), based in Brussels; and Asia Pacific Division (APD), based in Singapore. The company employs a staff of approximately 10,500 people worldwide. The core Levi's was founded in 1873 in San Francisco, specializing in riveted denim jeans and different lines of casual and street fashion.^[3]

From the early 1960s through the mid 1970s, Levi Strauss experienced significant growth in its business as the more casual look of the 1960s and 1970s ushered in the "blue jeans craze" and served as a catalyst for the brand. Levi's, under the leadership of Walter Haas Jr., Peter Haas, Ed Combs, and Mel Bacharach, expanded the firm's clothing line by adding new fashions and models, including stone-washed jeans through the acquisition of Great Western Garment Co. (GWG), a Canadian clothing manufacturer, and introducing Permanent Press trousers under the Sta-prest name.

The company experienced rapid expansion of its manufacturing capacity from 16 plants to more than 63 plants in the United States from 1964 to 1974 and 25 overseas. The use of "pay for performance" manufacturing at the sewing machine operator level up.

2004 saw a sharp decline of GWG in the face of global outsourcing, so the company was closed and the Edmonton manufacturing plant shut down.^[4] The Dockers brand, launched in 1986^[5] which is sold largely through department store chains, helped the company grow through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to fade. Dockers were introduced into Europe in 1993. Levi Strauss attempted to sell the Dockers division in 2004 to relieve part of the company's $2 billion outstanding debt.^[6]

Launched in 2003, Levi Strauss Signature features jeanswear and casualwear.^[7] In November 2007, Levi's released a mobile phone in co-operation with ModeLabs. Many of the phone's cosmetic attributes are customisable at the point of purchase.

History[link]

Jacob Davis, a Jewish emigrant from Latvia, was a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth made from hemp from Levi Strauss & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis' customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly. Davis did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they go into business together. After Levi accepted Jacob's offer, on May 20, 1873, the two men received U.S. Patent 139,121 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patented rivet was later incorporated into the company's jean design and advertisements. Contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush (which peaked in 1849), the manufacturing of denim overalls only began in the 1870s. The company then created their first pair of Levis 501 Jeans in the 1890s, a style that went on to become the world's best selling item of clothing.^[8]

Levi Strauss started the business at the 90 Sacramento Street address in San Francisco. He next moved the location to 62 Sacramento Street then 63 & 65 Sacramento Street.

Levi Strauss advertising sign

Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the working people of the western United States, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers. Levi’s jeans apparently were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales (and usually examples) of the hard-wearing pants with rivets. Another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in defense work. From a company with fifteen salespeople, two plants, and almost no business east of the Mississippi in 1946, the organization grew in thirty years to include a sales force of more than 22,000, with 50 plants and offices in 35 countries.^[9]

In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi's jeans became popular among a wide range of youth subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers, hippies and skinheads. Levi's popular shrink-to-fit 501s were sold in a unique sizing arrangement; the indicated size referred to the size of the jeans prior to shrinking, and the shrinkage was substantial. The company still produces these unshrunk, uniquely sized jeans, and they are still Levi's number one selling product. Although popular lore (abetted by company marketing) holds that the original design remains unaltered, this is not the case: the company's president got too close to a campfire, and the rivet at the bottom of the crotch conducted the fire's heat too well; the offending rivet, which is depicted in old advertisements, was removed.^[10]

1990s and later[link]

Levi's 506 inside

By the 1990s , the brand was facing competition from other brands and cheaper products from overseas, and began accelerating the pace of its US factory closures and its use of offshore subcontracting agreements. In 1991, Levi Strauss faced a scandal involving pants made in the Northern Mariana Islands, where some 3% of Levi's jeans sold annually with the Made in the USA label were shown to have been made by Chinese laborers under what the United States Department of Labor called "slavelike" conditions. Today, most Levi's jeans are made outside the US, though a few of the higher end, more expensive styles are still made in the U.S.

Cited for sub-minimum wages, seven-day work weeks with 12-hour shifts, poor living conditions and other indignities, Tan Holdings Corporation, Levi Strauss' Marianas subcontractor, paid what were then the largest fines in U.S. labor history, distributing more than $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees.^[11][12][13] Levi Strauss claimed no knowledge of the offenses, then severed ties to the Tan family and instituted labor reforms and inspection practices in its offshore facilities.

The activist group Fuerza Unida (United Force) was formed following the January 1990 closure of a plant in San Antonio, Texas, in which 1,150 seamstresses, some of whom had worked for Levi Strauss for decades, saw their jobs exported to Costa Rica.^[14] During the mid- and late-1990s, Fuerza Unida picketed the Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco and staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in protest of the company's labor policies.^[15][16][17]

The company took on multi-billion dollar debt in February 1996 to help finance a series of leveraged stock buyouts among family members. Shares in Levi Strauss stock are not publicly traded; the firm is today owned almost entirely by indirect descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss, whose four nephews inherited the San Francisco dry goods firm after their uncle's death in 1902.^[18] The corporation's bonds are traded publicly, as are shares of the company's Japanese affiliate, Levi Strauss Japan K.K.

In June 1996, the company offered to pay its workers an unusual dividend of up to $750 million in six years' time, having halted an employee stock plan at the time of the internal family buyout. However, the company failed to make cash flow targets, and no worker dividends were paid.^[19] In 2002, Levi Strauss began a close business collaboration with Walmart, producing a special line of "Signature" jeans and other clothes for exclusive sale in Walmart stores until 2006.^[20] Levi Strauss Signature jeans can now be purchased at several stores in the US, Canada, India, Pakistan and Japan.

According to the New York Times, Levi Strauss leads the apparel industry in trademark infringement cases, filing nearly 100 lawsuits against competitors since 2001. Most cases center on the alleged imitation of Levi's back pocket double arc stitching pattern (U.S. trademark #1,139,254), which Levi filed for trademark in 1978.^[21] Levi's has successfully sued Guess?, Polo Ralph Lauren, Esprit Holdings, Zegna, Zumiez and Lucky Brand Jeans, among other companies.^[22]

By 2007, Levi Strauss was again said to be profitable after declining sales in nine of the previous ten years.^[23] Its total annual sales, of just over $4 billion, were $3 billion less than during its peak performance in the mid 1990s.^[24] After more than two decades of family ownership, rumors of a possible public stock offering were floated in the media in July 2007.^[25] In 2009, it was noted in the media for selling Jeans on interest-free credit, due to the global recession.^[26][27] In 2010, the company partnered with Filson, an outdoor goods manufacturer in Seattle, to produce a high-end line of jackets and workwear.^[28]

Advertising[link]

Levi's marketing style has often made use of old recordings of popular music in television commercials, ranging from traditional pop to punk rock. Notable examples include Ben E King ("Stand By Me"), Percy Sledge ("When a Man Loves a Woman"), Eddie Cochran ("C'mon Everybody!"), Marc Bolan ("20th Century Boy"), Screamin' Jay Hawkins ("Heart Attack & Vine"), The Clash ("Should I Stay or Should I Go?"), as well as lesser known material, such as "Falling Elevators" and "The City Sleeps" by MC 900 Ft. Jesus and "Flat Beat" and "Monday Massacre" by Mr. Oizo. In India in August 2007 the “Fit to die for” advertisement campaign ran with Deepika Padukone.^[29]

Many of these songs were re-released by their record labels as a tie-in with the ad campaigns, resulting in increased popularity and sales of the recordings and the creation of iconic visual associations with the music, such as the use of a topless male model wearing jeans underwater in the 1986 adverts featuring "Wonderful World" and "Mad about the Boy" and the puppet, Flat Eric, in the ads featuring music by Mr. Oizo.

Marketing[link]

During the launch of Levi's Curve ID jeans, Levi launched a 5 week integrated marketing campaign that touched on experiential marketing, social media and outdoor events in shopping malls and city centers throughout the UK.

Brand ambassadors for Levi's encouraged women to find their perfect curve jeans shape in-store for the chance to win a £1000 Levi's shopping spree. The idea behind the campaign was to drive long-term engagement with the brand.^[30]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Ford, Carin T. (April 2004). Levi Strauss: The Man Behind Blue Jeans (Famous Inventors). Enslow Publishers. ISBN 0-7660-2249-8. 
• Roth, Art. The Levi's story. 
• Van Steenwyk (June 1988). Levi Strauss: The Blue Jeans Man. Walker & Company. ISBN 0-8027-6795-8. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Levi Strauss & Co.

	San Francisco Bay Area portal
	Companies portal

• Official site
• Corporate site
• Levi's India
• Levi's Europe
• Official site
• Levi Strauss Signature
• Levi's Mobile Phone official site
• Levi's Project 501 Design Challenge
• Levi's Sponsorship of Project Runway

Katharine McPhee
Katharine McPhee performs in 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Katharine Hope McPhee
Born	(1984-03-25) March 25, 1984 (age 28)
Origin	Los Angeles
Genres	Pop, R&B
Occupations	Singer, actress, songwriter
Years active	2006–present
Labels	19, RCA, Verve Forecast,[1] Columbia[2]
Associated acts	Andrea Bocelli, David Foster
Website	www.katharinemcphee.com

Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American pop singer, songwriter and actress. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol in 2006, eventually finishing as the runner-up.

Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records on January 30, 2007 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200; it has sold 381,000 copies to date.^[3] The album's first single, "Over It", was a Pop Top 30 hit and was certified gold in 2008.^[4]

Her second album, Unbroken, was released on Verve Forecast Records on January 5, 2010 and debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200. The album featured the single "Had It All", which peaked at number 22 on the Billboard AC chart. It has sold 45,000 copies to date.^[5] Her third album, the holiday-themed Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You, was released on October 12, 2010. The album debuted at number eleven on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart while the single "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard AC chart. The album has sold 23,000 copies to date.^[5]

McPhee has also established an acting career, co-starring in The House Bunny and "Shark Night 3D", and currently in a starring role in the NBC series Smash.

Early life[link]

McPhee was born in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Daniel McPhee, is a television producer. Her mother Patricia Burch McPhee (stage name Peisha Arten), is a vocal coach and accomplished cabaret singer. The family moved to Sherman Oaks in L.A. when Katharine was 12 years old. Katharine's mother recognized her daughter's musical talent and decided to train her. McPhee has an older sister, Adriana. McPhee is of Irish, Scottish, and German descent.^[6] McPhee attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where she performed in school plays and musicals. She graduated in 2002. She attended Boston Conservatory for three semesters, majoring in musical theater. She left college on the advice of her manager and returned to Los Angeles to try out for television pilots. McPhee was cast (during the time she had dropped out of college and was auditioning in Los Angeles) in a mall-based MTV soap opera pilot, You Are Here, playing the older sister of a more popular younger sister. MTV never aired the pilot and did not pick up the series.^[7] In March 2005, McPhee starred as Annie Oakley in a Los Angeles-based production of the musical Annie Get Your Gun.^[8] McPhee was nominated for an L.A. Stage Ovation Award in the category of "Lead Actress in a Musical".^[9] McPhee had a small role as Paramount Girl in the 2007 musical film Crazy, based on the life of Hank Garland.^[10] McPhee filmed the role in early 2005, before she auditioned for American Idol.

McPhee has struggled with eating disorders in the past. She told People that at age 13 she began starving herself and exercising compulsively and at age 17 became bulimic.^[11] McPhee gained weight in college due to her binging. After seven years of illness, McPhee finally entered a three-month rehabilitation program for her eating disorder after successfully passing her American Idol audition; her rehab stint ended just before the Idol semifinals started in February 2006.^[12] During her run on American Idol, she lost 30 lb (14 kg) due to eating better as part of her treatment. Now, as she told Teen Vogue in May 2007, "I eat whatever I crave—I'm just really careful about portions." McPhee and her sister appeared on the debut of The Dr. Keith Ablow Show on September 18, 2006, to discuss her struggles with bulimia and her childhood fear of her father.^[13] Also on the show, McPhee stated that she was misdiagnosed with a learning disability during her middle school years but was finally correctly diagnosed with a vision problem that caused her to have trouble reading in class. McPhee claimed she was known as the "pretty but stupid" girl in school because she had trouble reading.

[edit] American Idol

McPhee was persuaded by now-husband Nick Cokas and her parents to try out for the television series competition, American Idol. She auditioned in San Francisco and sang "God Bless the Child", originally performed by Billie Holiday. After the first round of Hollywood week, she sang "I'll Never Love This Way Again" by Dionne Warwick which earned favorable comments from the judges. During the second round, she performed in a group, singing "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" by the Four Tops, forgetting the words, but the judges decided to advance the entire group. During the third round, she sang "My Funny Valentine" a cappella and advanced to the top 40. She was mad when fellow group member Crystal Stark did not make the top 24. McPhee's run on American Idol led to the use of the term "McPheever". The inclusion of producer David Foster and singer Andrea Bocelli as guest mentors for Top 6 Week turned out to be a fortuitous introduction for McPhee, as she has worked on various music projects with both men post-Idol. In May 2006, McPhee visited her alma mater Notre Dame High School for her hometown celebration.^[14] Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited the school and proclaimed the day Katharine McPhee Day.

Performances and results (during voting weeks)[link]

Career[link]

[edit] 2006–2008: Katharine McPhee album and feature film debut

On June 6, 2006, Sony BMG announced that McPhee had signed to American Idol series creator Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Limited and Sony BMG's RCA Records.^[15] Also in June, McPhee performed at the J.C. Penney Jam: Concert for America's Kids^[16], soloing with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and performing a duet with Andrea Bocelli on "Somos Novios".

McPhee's Idol single, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny" was released on June 27, 2006 by RCA Records. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" peaked at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 and "My Destiny" peaked at number 60.^[17] 32 weeks after its release, Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny had climbed to number four on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales charts.^[18] It was the second highest best-selling single of 2006 after Taylor Hicks' "Do I Make You Proud". "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny" remained on the chart for more than 58 weeks.

In July, McPhee missed the first three weeks of the American Idol Tour due to laryngitis and bronchitis.^[19] She joined the tour beginning with the July 28 show in Washington, D.C., singing only two songs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" instead of the usual 4 on doctor's orders to conserve her voice. At the August 1 concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, McPhee suffered a hairline fracture of her foot when she tripped backstage and was fitted with a walking boot cast.^[20] Once she recovered from the foot injury, she added "Think" to her concert set.

McPhee recorded a duet with Andrea Bocelli on "Can't Help Falling In Love" for his Under the Desert Sky album, which was released as a CD/DVD package on November 7, 2006.

McPhee signed a two-year endorsement deal in 2006 with Sexy Hair Concepts to become their first celebrity spokesperson for their hair-care product line.^[21] Also in 2006, McPhee founded a charity called McPhee Outreach. The purpose of the charity is to team up with other foundations or organizations and help in any way possible.^[22] The foundation teamed up with The Lollipop Theater Network to provide music outreach (called "Rhythm of Hope") to sick children in Southern California hospitals.^[23] McPhee Outreach teamed up with Global Compassion Services to build a preschool in the West African nation of Burkina Faso to help combat that nation's high illiteracy rate.^[22]

McPhee's self-titled debut album, Katharine McPhee was released on January 30, 2007 and sold 116,000 copies its first week, debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.^[24] The first single from the album was "Over It" peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Love Story" failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

In early 2007, McPhee guest-starred in the web series, lonelygirl15 as an unnamed character in the episode "Truth Or Dare".^[25] McPhee made a cameo appearance as herself on the ABC show Ugly Betty in the episode "I'm Coming Out".^[26] The episode was broadcast February 1, 2007. During the 2007 Christmas holiday season, McPhee released a Christmas single "O Come All Ye Faithful".

On January 11, 2008, it was reported by Billboard.com that McPhee had been released from her contract with RCA Records. A spokesperson for the label stated, "She is going to record her next album on her own."^[27]

McPhee signed a two-year endorsement deal with Neutrogena to become the new spokesperson for their anti-acne skin-care product line. In March 2008, she filmed her first commercial, which began airing on television in May 2008 and on Neutrogena's skinid.com website.^[28] McPhee appeared on Idol judge Randy Jackson's album Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1, which was released on March 11, 2008. McPhee recorded a duet of "Real Love" with fellow American Idol 5 contestant Elliott Yamin. On March 12, 2008, McPhee returned to the American Idol stage during the Top 12 results night of the seventh season of the competition. She performed the Beatles song "Something", with producer David Foster, on piano. After the performance, Foster indicated that he and McPhee were collaborating on her second studio album (though it ended up he was not part of the finished product). McPhee took part in the David Foster tribute concert Hit Man: David Foster & Friends, which was filmed by PBS, in May 2008.^[29] She soloed on "Somewhere" and performed a duet of "The Prayer" with Andrea Bocelli. A CD/DVD was released in November 2008. David Foster recorded "I Will Be There With You" for Japan Airlines (JAL), with McPhee on vocals. Starting in June 2008, it was used to promote the introduction of new aircraft to JAL's US flights.^[30]

McPhee made her studio acting debut in the comedy The House Bunny, co-starring as one of the few members of a misfit sorority. The movie, released in August 2008, starred Anna Faris as a Playboy Bunny who took the girls under her wing. It was directed by Fred Wolf for Columbia Pictures and produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. McPhee released a cover of the song "I Know What Boys Like", featuring the other cast members of the movie The House Bunny. McPhee took part in the concert Chris Botti: Live In Boston, which was filmed by PBS, in September 2008.^[31] She sang "I've Got You Under My Skin" accompanied by Chris Botti on trumpet. The concert was shown several times on PBS starting in January 2009. The CD/DVD and Blu-ray were released March 31, 2009.

[edit] 2009-2010: Unbroken album and TV and movie projects

It was announced on January 27, 2009 that McPhee had signed a new record deal with Verve Forecast Records (part of the Verve Music Group under Universal Music Group).^[1]

McPhee guest starred on the CBS show CSI: NY in the episode "Prey" as a singer and stalker victim who murdered her stalker. The episode was broadcast April 8, 2009.^[32][33] In early 2009, McPhee was cast in a lead role in the independent romantic-comedy You May Not Kiss the Bride.^[34] The budget was set at $6 million. The movie filmed for 5 weeks in March and April 2009 in Oahu, Hawaii. McPhee played the role of Masha, alongside Dave Annable.^[35] The film debuted at the 14th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival that was held April 6–10, 2011^[36] The film has not been released theatrically yet. McPhee joined actresses Alyson Hannigan, Jaime King, Minka Kelly and Emily Deschanel in a video slumber party made available in October 2009 and featured on FunnyorDie.com and other Internet platforms in a comedic take to promote regular breast cancer screenings for the organization Stand Up To Cancer.^[37] A Christmas single "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was released November 17, 2009. In September 2009, McPhee took part in the United Negro College Fund's "An Evening of Stars" concert that was a tribute to singer/songwriter Lionel Richie. McPhee sang You Are. The concert was broadcast in syndication and on BET the weekend of January 23-24, 2010. A 2-disc DVD of the concert is available through a donation to the United Negro College Fund.

McPhee's second album Unbroken was released January 5, 2010 and debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 15,000 copies its first week.^[38] For her second effort, McPhee worked with producer John Alagia. The first single from the album, "Had It All" was released to McPhee's MySpace page on August 25, 2009. McPhee appeared on the Jan 19, 2010 episode of the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser (its ninth season) in the show's Pound for Pound Challenge segment (an initiative to challenge viewers to get healthy while helping to fight hunger in their own communities). McPhee was shown volunteering at a Los Angeles food bank and meeting with children at a Boys and Girls Club and talking about the importance of helping to fight hunger in America. On February 1, 2010, McPhee joined over 75 other musicians, including fellow American Idol alumni Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks and American Idol judge Randy Jackson, for a remake of "We Are the World", retitled "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", which marked the 25th anniversary of the iconic song and for which proceeds will go to Haitian earthquake relief.^[39] On February 22, 2010, McPhee appeared in the production of 110 Stories, directed by Mark Freiburger at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. She co-starred alongside Ed Asner, Diane Venora, Gail O'Grady, John Hawkes, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and many others. The play was a benefit to help the victims of the recent Haiti earthquake. Proceeds went to the Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles.^[40]

During the week of February 8, 2010, in the pre-taped Hollywood Week portion of Season 9 of American Idol, contestant Didi Benami was shown singing "Terrified", a song on the Unbroken album and written by Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. As a result of the exposure on Idol, digital downloads of the song (the album version featuring Jason Reeves) rose nearly 10,000% from the week before, selling about 20,000 copies for the week, for a total of 22,000 sold at that point.^[41] On May 4, 2010, a new version of the Unbroken song "Terrified" featuring actor Zachary Levi premiered on Entertainment Weekly's website and was made available for purchase on iTunes. The accompanying music video premiered on May 7, 2010 on the music video website Vevo. On March 9, 2010, McPhee performed "Surrender" at the White House, in front of President Obama and the First Lady as part of International Women's Day. ^[42] McPhee guest starred on the NBC comedy Community in the episode "Basic Genealogy" as Chevy Chase's character's ex-stepdaughter and potential love interest for Joel McHale's character. The episode was broadcast March 11, 2010. ^[43]

In April 2010, McPhee made a TV pilot for a new comedy series for NBC called The Pink House. McPhee played Emily, a down-to-earth Midwestern girl new to Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles.^[44] The pilot was shot as a possible pickup for the Fall 2010 season and was produced by Conan O'Brien's production company, with O'Brien as executive producer.^[45] Shooting took place April 9, 2010.^[46] NBC did not pick up the pilot.^[47] In the summer of 2010, McPhee partnered with Feeding America and ConAgra Foods Foundation to help launch the Hunger-Free Summer Initiative, which aimed to help children at risk of hunger during the summer months.^[48] Throughout the month of July, McPhee traveled around the country to various Feeding America food banks to raise awareness. In September 2010, McPhee filmed a cameo role in upstate New York for the feature film Peace, Love, and Misunderstanding which stars Jane Fonda and will be in theaters June 8, 2012.^[49]

Also in 2010, McPhee was cast in a co-starring role in director David Ellis' shark thriller indie film Shark Night 3D, which filmed in Shreveport, Louisiana for about eight weeks from early September to the end of October 2010. The movie is about a group of college friends who spend a weekend at a lake house, only to find dangerous sharks lurking beneath the surface. The film stars Sara Paxton. The budget is $28 million, and it was released September 2, 2011.^{[50][51][52][53]} McPhee released a Christmas album titled Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You on October 12, 2010. The album debuted at number eleven on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart and sold 1,000 copies in its first week.^[54] One of the Christmas album's songs "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was released to radio in November 2010 and peaked at number sixteen on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. Country singer Chelsea Field's song "Love's Never Leavin'", a song that McPhee co-wrote with singer-songwriter Richard Marx and producer Trey Bruce, was made available for purchase on iTunes on November 9, 2010, with 100% of the proceeds to benefit the Tammany Humane Society in Covington, LA.^[55] On December 15, 2010, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital released a video on their website for their Thanks and Giving Campaign that featured McPhee interacting with sick children at the hospital with her song "Lifetime" playing over the soundtrack.^[56]

[edit] 2011-2012: Smash series and new record deal

In February 2011, it was announced that McPhee had landed a starring role in the NBC TV pilot Smash,^[57] also starring Debra Messing, Megan Hilty, Jack Davenport, Anjelica Huston, Christian Borle, and Brian d'Arcy James.^[58] In May 2011, NBC picked up Smash as a series.^[59][60] The series, set as a musical drama, follows a group of characters who come together to put on a Broadway musical inspired by Marilyn Monroe. Steven Spielberg is one of the executive producers. The idea was originally developed at Showtime by NBC Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt.^[57][61]

On June 9, 2011, it was announced that McPhee had signed a new record deal with Columbia Records (a label under Sony Music Entertainment), in conjunction with Columbia teaming with NBC to distribute the music for Smash.^[2] In July 2011, Forbes reported that McPhee was number ten on their list of the 10 Top-Earning American Idols (she was tied with David Archuleta and David Cook), earning $1 million (pre-tax estimates before subtracting manager and agent fees) for music and acting endeavors for the period May 2010 to May 2011.^[62]

In December 2011, McPhee became a spokesperson for the Malaria No More organization to help raise awareness about the campaign to eradicate malaria.^[63] McPhee recorded a voiceover for the Fox animated series Family Guy, for the episode "You Can't Do That On Television, Peter", playing the voice of Mother Maggie. The episode was broadcast April 1, 2012

NBC debuted Smash in mid-season of the 2011–12 television season^[64] on February 6, 2012, to generally favorable reviews, scoring a 79 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[65] In March 2012, McPhee traveled to two countries in Africa, Ghana and Burkina Faso, on behalf of Malaria No More to raise awareness and to help distribute mosquito nets.^[66] On March 26, 2012, Smash was renewed for a second season.^[67]

Personal life[link]

On February 2, 2008, the then 23-year-old McPhee married 42-year-old Nick Cokas at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.^[68]

Discography[link]

• 2007: Katharine McPhee
• 2010: Unbroken
• 2010: Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Awards[link]

• Fox Reality Awards 2006, Favorite Hottie
• VH1 2006 Big Awards, Big It Girl
• Young Hollywood Awards 2007, Exciting New Vocalist^[69]

Nominations[link]

• Ovation Awards 2005, "Lead Actress in a Musical", for Annie Get Your Gun stage production
• Teen Choice Award 2006 and 2007, Choice Breakout Female Artist

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Katharine McPhee

• Official website
• Katharine McPhee at American Idol
• Katharine McPhee at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview: Katharine McPhee, February 1, 2007
• Katharine McPhee Goes From Classics To Pop, CBS News