MAIN Pop Culture Country Music   Carrie Underwood

Born Carrie Marie Underwood on March 10, 1983 in Muskogee, Oklahoma the darling of American Idol Season 4 has since paved her way to super stardom in only a few short years — topping the charts in both pop and country music with such hits as "Jesus Take the Wheel", "Don't Forget to Remember Me", "I'll Stand by You" and her biggest hit to date, "Before He Cheats".

It comes as little surprise, then, that Underwood has been an overachiever for much of her life, having competed or performed in talents shows, local churches and community groups in her native Oklahoma even as a youngster.

She later graduated with high honors from Northeastern State University where she took her bachelor's degree in mass communications in 2004.

That summer, she hit the road headed for St. Louis, Missouri, to audition for the country's most popular reality competition show, American Idol. With a winning smile and fresh-faced looks, Underwood sailed through the competition thanks to a huge fan base who put her over the top each week with millions of call-in votes.

And the rest, as they say, is music history. Carrie Underwood was crowned the winner of season four of American Idol on May 25, 2005.

With a nationwide fan base even before her first album was released in November "Some Hearts" quickly became a No. 1 hit and the best-selling debut album in country music history.

Underwood could since be seen returning again and again to subsequent seasons of American Idol to perform as a guest star or to appear on "Idol Gives Back" charity fundraisers.

That is, when she was not appearing on a music award presentation accepting industry accolades. These included Best New Female Vocalist and Single of the Year for "Jesus Take the Wheel" at the 2006 ACM Awards, and the Horizon Award and Female Vocalist at the 2006 CMA Awards.

That same year she swept the Billboard Music Awards with a total of five wins for Album of the Year, Top 200 Female Artist of the Year, Female Country Artist, New Country Artist, and Country Album of the Year; and later went to win Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards.

"Carnival Ride" her second album released in 2007 only served to build on her pheonomenal success spinning off such No. 1 country hits as "So Small" and "All-American Girl".

Along with her own top hits, Carrie Underwood has also recorded a song for the Brad Paisley album "5th Gear"; sang "Ever Ever After" on the soundtrack of the movie Enchanted; and toured with Keith Urban on the Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride Tour in 2008.

Offstage, Underwood has been romantically linked to American football star Tony Romo, actor Chace Crawford, and Ottawa Senators hockey player Mike Fisher with whom she announced wedding plans in December 2009 after a year of dating. Fisher and Underwood were later married in a lavish ceremony in Atlanta, Georgia on July 10, 2010.

Carrie Underwood on the Web:

The Official Carrie Underwood Site - Featuring the latest news & updates, popular music videos, photo gallery, desktop wallpapers, bio, fan forums, tour dates.

Carrie Underwood Fan - Major fan community with news & rumors, bio, photos, magazine scans, wallpapers, online forums.

Carrie Underwood - People.com - New & archived feature stories, career profile & fun facts, photos.

CMT.com : Carrie Underwood - Bio, pictures, music videos, lyrics, news features & current tour dates, fan message boards, related links and resources.

American Idol: Carrie Underwood - Archived contestant page with photos, interview, vital stats and fast facts.