Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American pop singer and actress who was the runner-up to Taylor Hicks on the fifth season of American Idol in 2006.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Born in Los Angeles, California, McPhee moved with her parents and sister to the Sherman Oaks neighborhood at age 12. McPhee has been singing since the age of two. Her mother, Patricia Burch McPhee^[1] (stage name Peisha Arten^[2]), a vocal coach and accomplished cabaret singer, recognized a talent for music in her daughter and decided to train her. Her father, Daniel McPhee, is a television producer and her older sister, Adriana Burch McPhee (born June 30, 1982) is an aspiring producer as well.

McPhee graduated in 2002 from the Notre Dame High School. At Notre Dame High School, McPhee was a swimmer and a thespian. She performed in school plays with her elder sister Adriana; both sisters were Homecoming Princess nominees in their senior year. Afterward, McPhee attended Boston Conservatory for three semesters, majoring in musical theater. McPhee left the college due to her manager's suggestion that she try out for television pilots in Los Angeles. In a People news article, it was reported that she was rejected in "only 195 out of 200 auditions."^[3] She was eventually cast as "Paramount Girl" in the 2006 musical film about the life of Hank Garland, Crazy^[4]. Other early acting endeavors included lead actress in local professional productions of Annie Get Your Gun and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. She was nominated in 2005 for the Theatre L.A. Ovation Award for her lead role in Annie Get Your Gun. McPhee was also part of a failed mall-based MTV soap opera entitled You Are Here, playing the older sister of a more popular younger sister. In the soap opera, she was jealous of her popular younger sister.^[5]

[edit] American Idol

McPhee was persuaded by boyfriend, Nick Cokas, and parents to try out for American Idol. She auditioned in San Francisco, and sang "God Bless the Child", originally performed by Billie Holiday. Paula Abdul said that McPhee was "absolutely beautiful", Randy Jackson hailed her audition as potentially the best so far that season, and Simon Cowell complimented her for being "current" and her audition being "absolutely fantastic".

McPhee listed Whitney Houston and Brian McKnight as her favorite artists^[6] in the American Idol interview of the top 24 semi-finalists.

During the competition, McPhee roomed with fellow contestant Kellie Pickler, and when Pickler was eliminated, she roomed with Paris Bennett.^[9]

[edit] Post-Idol

On June 6, 2006, Sony BMG and 19 Entertainment announced that McPhee had signed to American Idol series creator Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Limited and Sony BMG's RCA Records.^[10]

McPhee's debut single, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny" was released on June 27, 2006 by RCA Records. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "My Destiny" peaked at #60.^[11] Thirty-two weeks after its release, Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny had climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales charts.^[12] It was 2nd highest best-selling single of 2006 after Taylor Hicks's "Do I Make You Proud?".

McPhee toured with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and performed in three of his concerts during his tour in the United States from June 9 through June 11, 2006.^[13]

Madonna, cuyo nombre completo es: " Madonna Louis Veronica Fortin "

 Nació el 16 de Agosto de 1958

en Bay City Michigan, Detroit, en Estados Unidos

 de padre italiano y madre canadiense.

Cuando contaba seis años, su madre murió de cáncer, a los treinta, y este hecho marcó su vida.  Siendo aún niña, Madonna comenzó a dar clases de baile, gracias a las cuales obtuvo una beca para la Universidad de Michigan. Posteriormente se fue a Nueva York a ampliar sus estudios de arte, a la vez que trabajaba en lo que salía.
Madonna trabajó como modelo fotográfica y poco después crea un grupo con un amigo: 'The Breakfast Club', en el que Madonna toca la guitarra y la batería.

Tras tocar en varios grupos y cambiar continuamente de representante, edita su primer sencillo, 'Everybody' en 1983, con el que Madonna inicia su camino a la fama.
Su primer álbum, 'Madonna', fue compuesto en su mayoría por la propia Madonna. Un año después Madonna publicó el segundo disco, 'Like a virgin', con el que consigue auparse en los primeros lugares de las listas de éxitos. También realiza su primera gira.

En 1985 protagoniza la película 'Buscando a Susan desesperadamente'. En 1985 se casa con Sean Penn, un joven actor de la nueva generación.
Su tercer disco, 'True Blue' se publica en 1986 y provoca muchas discusiones, aunque es un auténtico éxito de ventas.
Junto a Sean Penn, Madonna protagoniza una nueva película, 'Shangai Surprise', que resultó ser un sonado fracaso.

En 1988 Madonna edita 'Who's that girl' y a continuación 'You can dance'. Inicia una nueva gira con gran éxito.
En 1989 se separa de Sean Penn y publica 'Like a prayer', el mejor de su carrera, con el que batió todos los records de ventas. Debido a los temas del disco y los videos tuvo varias discusiones con la iglesia.

También trabajó en Broadway con una obra de teatro titulada 'Speed the Plow', con notable éxito.  En 1990 protagoniza la película 'Dick Tracy', junto a Warren Beatty, con quien tuvo un romance. También publica la banda sonora de 'Dick Tracy'.  En 1992 publica 'Erotica' y en 1994 'Bedtime Stories', con el que da un giro a su carrera, además de lograr un gran éxito de ventas.  En 1996 protagoniza 'Evita', junto a Antonio Banderas, con la que logra el Globo de Oro a la mejor actriz. Edita el disco con la banda sonora de la película y en octubre del mismo año nace su hija Lourdes María Ciccone, fruto de su relación con el cubano Carlos Leon.

En 1998 publica un nuevo trabajo, 'Ray of Light' y en el 2000 'Music', un disco lleno de sonidos electrónicos. Tras el nacimiento de su segundo hijo, a finales del 2001 publica 'GHV2', lo que configura su segundo recopilatorio, con 15 de sus mejores temas entre 1991 y 2001, entre lo que destaca 'Erotica', 'Secret', 'Ray Of Light' o 'Music'.
A finales del 2005 aparece un nuevo álbum de Madonna, titulado "Confessions on a dance floor", en el que la artista reinventa la música de baile. Con un impresionante salto creativo hacia una nueva dimensión de la música disco, el álbum está compuesto por 12 nuevos temas que consiguen capturar la fuerza de los primeros éxitos de esta superstar.