- published: 21 Oct 2012
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Diana Nicole DeGarmo (born June 16, 1987) is an American singer and Broadway actress.
She rose to fame in 2004, when she later became the runner-up of the third season of American Idol. After American Idol, DeGarmo began a career in musical theatre. DeGarmo also appeared on The Young and the Restless as Angelina Veneziano.
DeGarmo was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but was raised primarily in Snellville, Georgia. She has Italian, French, and Native American ancestry. DeGarmo began singing at a young age, including at the 1997 Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards and in Atlanta-based stage productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
DeGarmo took part in the third season of American Idol in 2004, finishing second after a close race with winner Fantasia Barrino. During her run in the Top 12, she was in the bottom 3 in the top 11, top 9, and top 8 weeks but never fell to the bottom 2. She became one of the front runners by week 6 and did not land in the bottom 3 again. She was 16 years old at the time she competed.
Luther Vandross (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times. He won four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the track "Dance with My Father", co-written with Richard Marx.
Luther Vandross was born on April 20, 1951 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, United States. He was the fourth child and second son to Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross, Sr.
Born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City in the NYCHA Alfred E. Smith Houses public housing development, Vandross began playing the piano at the age of three. He grew up in a musical family that moved to the Bronx when he was thirteen. His sister, Patricia, sang with the vocal group The Crests, who had a number two hit in 1958 with "16 Candles", though she left the group before the recording. Vandross's father died of diabetes when Vandross was eight years old. Luther Vandross was in a high school group, Shades of Jade, that once played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He was also a member of a theater workshop, "Listen My Brother" who released the singles "Only Love Can Make a Better World" and "Listen My Brother", and appeared on the second and fifth episodes of Sesame Street in November 1969.