Crystal Bowersox
Crystal Bowersox in Toledo, Ohio
Background information
Birth name	Crystal Lynn Bowersox
Born	(1985-08-04) August 4, 1985 (age 26)
Origin	Elliston, Ohio, United States
Genres	Rock, indie folk, acoustic, blues, gospel, soul, blues-rock, country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, flute
Years active	2010–present
Labels	19 (2010-2011) Jive (2010-2011)
Website	CrystalBowersox.com

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 on the Jive Records label.

Early life[link]

Bowersox and her twin brother, Carl, were born in Elliston, Ohio.^[1] She attended Oak Harbor High School in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and later attended the Toledo School for the Arts in Toledo, Ohio.^[1] 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.

[edit] 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."^[2]

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.^[3][4] The men competed that day instead of the women. She sang the next day and impressed all of the judges.^[5]

The following week, her strong performance prompted Simon Cowell to state, "Right now, you are the one everyone has to beat."^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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

Performances[link]

• ^Note 1 Due to the judges using their one 'save' for Michael Lynche, the Top 9 remained intact for another week.
• ^Note 2 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."^[10] 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.
• ^Note 3 Song selected by Ellen DeGeneres.

[edit] 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.^[11] Her single "Up to the Mountain" has since been released to radio stations and iTunes.

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.^[12]

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.^[13][14] However, Bowersox was not one of the artists who made the move, and was instead left without a record label.

She also made her acting debut on a Season 2 episode of Dana Delany's series Body of Proof.^[15][16]

Through Twitter, Bowersox confirmed she will be spending all of 2012 working on her next album and she will be releasing an EP soon of pre-Idol recordings called "Once Upon a Time".^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

• 2010: Farmer's Daughter

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Crystal Bowersox at the Internet Movie Database
• Crystal Bowersox at American Idol

Nadine Coyle
Coyle in 2004
Background information
Birth name	Nadine Coyle
Born	(1985-06-15) 15 June 1985 (age 27)
Origin	Derry, Northern Ireland
Genres	Pop, Pop rock, R&B
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Instruments	Voice piano
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Polydor, Fascination, Black Pen TESCO Records
Associated acts	Girls Aloud, Six, Cheryl Cole, Aggro Santos

Nadine Coyle (born 15 June 1985); is an Irish^[1] singer, songwriter, actress, and model who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of the band Six before becoming a member of the girl-group Girls Aloud. The group amassed a joint fortune of £25 million by May 2009. With Girls Aloud, Coyle has been successful in achieving a string of 20 consecutive UK top ten singles (including four number ones), two UK number one albums, and received nominations for five BRIT Awards, winning Best Single in 2009 for "The Promise".

Coyle released her debut solo album Insatiable and its title track was released on 8 November 2010 through her own label, Black Pen Records in partnership with supermarket giant Tesco.^[2] The album peaked at number twenty on the Irish Album Charts and number forty-seven on the UK Album Charts in the UK.^[3]

Life and career[link]

1985-2001: Early life[link]

Coyle was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, on 15 June 1985 to Lillian and Niall Coyle.^[4][5] Her parents first noticed her talent for singing at the age of two, when she sang The Drifters' "Saturday Night at the Movies."^[5] Coyle was uninterested in her education but received good grades.^[5] She recorded a demo CD,^[5] which was distributed to Louis Walsh and The Late Late Show. The CD included cover versions of "Fields of Gold", "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", "Love Is", and the aria "Summertime".^[6]

Girls Aloud performing live

2002-2009: Girls Aloud[link]

In 2001, while attending Thornhill College, Coyle auditioned for the Irish version of the reality television talent show Popstars, on which Walsh was a judge. She won a place in the band Six; however, it was revealed that Coyle had lied about her age.^[4] She was just 16 years old, two years younger than the minimum age requirement of 18.^[7] Coyle said she was "exploited" by RTÉ.^[8] She returned to Thornhill College in Derry. She later revealed how she had a cancer scare when she found a lump in her breast when she was 17.^[9]

Louis Walsh encouraged Coyle to enter Popstars The Rivals, the second British series of the international Popstars franchise. The series' goal was to create two winning pop groups - a boy band and a girl group, each consisting of five members who would then partake in "a battle of the sexes" as they vie for the Christmas number one on the UK Singles Chart.^[10] Several thousand applicants attended auditions across the UK in hope of being selected. Ten girls and ten boys were chosen as finalists by judges Walsh, Pete Waterman, and Geri Halliwell. These finalists then took to the stage participating in weekly Saturday night live performances (alternating weekly between the girls and boys). Following her performance of "Fields of Gold", Walsh told her she gave the "performance of the night. Stole the show for me," while fellow judge Halliwell said, "I'd love to buy a single of yours already".^[11]

Coyle joined Cheryl Cole, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, and Kimberley Walsh to comprise the new girl group Girls Aloud, formed through the show by a public vote on 30 November 2002.^[12] The group's debut single "Sound of the Underground" peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the 2002 Christmas number one.^[13] Girls Aloud hold the record for the shortest time between formation and reaching number one.^[14] The group released their debut album. Sound of the Underground in May 2003,^[15] which entered the charts at number two and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry later the same year.^[16] Since 2003, Girls Aloud have released twenty consecutive top ten singles.^[17] Their singles "I'll Stand by You", "Walk This Way", and "The Promise" have charted at number one. Two of their albums have reached the top of the UK Album Chart; their greatest hits album The Sound of Girls Aloud and 2008's Out of Control, both of which entered the chart at number one, with over one million copies of the former being sold.^[18] All their albums are certified platinum.^[16] They have been nominated for five BRIT Awards, and in 2009 won Best British Single at that year's BRIT Awards for "The Promise".^[19]

In 2009, Girls Aloud decided they would partake in a hiatus to pursue solo projects.^[20]

[edit] 2009-2011: Insatiable

Nadine Coyle after show in 2009

Coyle announced plans to release a solo album during Girls Aloud's hiatus.^[21][22][23] She enlisted Barbara Charone, who was worked with Madonna and Christina Aguilera, as a publicist and Bruce Garfield as her manager.^[24][25][26] Despite early reports indicating three major record labels interested in Coyle,^[27] it was reported that Coyle had failed to earn a solo record deal, even being turned down by Girls Aloud's label Polydor Records.^[28] In April 2010, it was reported she had signed to Geffen Records.^[29] The deal later fell through.^[30] In August 2010, Coyle officially signed a deal with grocery store chain Tesco's new record label, releasing the album through her own Black Pen Records imprint.^[2][30][31]

In September 2010, Coyle announced the release of her debut album Insatiable on 8 November.^[2][32] Coyle worked with a number of famous songwriters and producers during recording sessions, such as Desmond Child, Guy Chambers, Mike Elizondo, Steve Booker, Toby Gad, Tony Kanal and newcomer Ricci Riccardi.^{[22][25][26][33]} Nadine also worked with Lucie Silvas, Matchbox Twenty's Kyle Cook, William Orbit, and Tiesto.^[31][34][35] According to an interview with Booker, Coyle had worked on song ideas using GarageBand which she then presented to Booker in England to work on together further.^[36] The producer said, "She was singing her songs to loops, and then I took the loops out and rewrote the music from scratch to her ideas."^[36] He described her songs as "very pop".^[36] Booker also worked on songs to show off Coyle's vocals: "Because she’s got such a belting voice, I tried a couple of things where she could really belt," he said.^[36] The album was released on 8 November.^[37]

The album was preceded by the release of her debut single, the title track "Insatiable". Co-written with Guy Chambers and produced by Ricci Riccardi, the song has an "80s feel" and "a harder, guitar-led sound."^[38][39] On 29 October 2010, Coyle performed "Insatiable" for the first time live on the ITV television show Paul O'Grady Live.

On 26 May, it was announced that Coyle will be releasing her debut single in the US, entitled "Runnin'" from her debut album Insatiable.^[40] It was also revealed that Coyle would release another new single titled "Sweetest High" worldwide, on 22 June 2011.^[41]

[edit] 2012-Present: Sweetest High

In April 2012 it was announced by Coyle that her second studio album Sweetest High is currently in working progress and should be released at the end of the year. She is currently recording new material and working with several artists across America and performing new tracks including Don Julio, Are You Crazy and Save Me at Gumbopop. Coyle's next single is to be released on the 14th May 2012 entitled Don Julio. Coyle also confirmed that tracks Love Me For A Reason and Back For Good will be added as bonus tracks from her second album, plus a video recording live on Paul O'Grady's Halloween Special in 2011.</ref>

Other projects[link]

As a member of Girls Aloud, Coyle has also appeared in the fly on the wall documentary Girls Aloud: Home Truths, the E4 documentary series Girls Aloud: Off the Record, and a one-off variety show entitled The Girls Aloud Party. Coyle has expressed interest in an acting career,^[42] following Girls Aloud's cameo appearance as schoolgirls in the film St. Trinian's and Coyle's appearance on Keith Barry's show The Great Escape, which aired on ITV on 29 December 2007.^[43] Coyle made a cameo appearance in Natasha Bedingfield's video for "I Wanna Have Your Babies".^[44]

Coyle contributed to the book Dreams that Glitter - Our Story, an autobiography with her Girls Aloud bandmates, in October 2008. The book was written with a ghostwriter and published by the Transworld imprint Bantam Press.^[45][46] The book featured unseen photographs and included insights into the members' personal lives, their success together, style tips, and "everything we've learned about life, love and music."^[46][47] The book was previewed and serialised by OK! prior to its release. Girls Aloud held a book signing at Waterstone's in Piccadilly, London to promote the release.^[48] The title Dreams that Glitter comes from a line in the group's 2007 single "Call the Shots".

In March 2010, Coyle made her first solo appearance, singing "Love Me for a Reason" with Boyzone on a televised tribute to the late Stephen Gately.^[49] She collaborated with Boyz II Men for their album Love, recording a cover of the Take That song "Back for Good".^[50] The song did not appear on the album. Coyle also worked with Jay Sean,^[51] although the duet was later scrapped.^[52]

She was reportedly approached by Gillette to advertise their female range of razors.^[53] As a member of Girls Aloud, Coyle has also endorsed Barbie, KitKat, Nintendo DS, Samsung, and Sunsilk.^[54][55][56]

Coyle owns a pub named Nadine's Irish Mist in Sunset Beach, Orange County.^[57] In December 2009, Coyle visited her hometown of Derry to successfully break the record of the most trees planted in one site in an hour by 100 volunteers.^[58] Coyle has also dedicated some of her time to charities, including the Northern Ireland children’s hospice.^[58]

Coyle published her new record label "Black Pen Records", which additionally released her debut album Insatiable and her further singles.^[59] Coyle has been confirmed as a judge for the next series of America's Next Top Model.^[60]

In April 2012 it was announced that Coyle would be appearing in Celebrity Big Brother 2012 (UK) for a fee of £500,000.^[61]

Personal life[link]

In January 2008, she dated former American football player Jason Bell, and the two were engaged until their split in May 2011.^[62][63]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Nadine Coyle at the Internet Movie Database