MUSIC

Verus Ferreira

Though American rocker Christopher Adam 'Chris' Daughtry was eliminated from the competition as the fourth place finalist he managed to make a name for himself the moment he got signed onto RCA record label.

Chris was born to parents Pete and Sandra Daughtry in North Carolina on December 26, 1979. At age of 16, Chris started taking singing seriously. He was influenced by the music of Creed, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Bon Jovi.

He took guitar lessons from blues-rock guitarist Matt Jagger at Stacy's Music store in Charlottesville and sought advice from Andy Waldeck (frontman for Earth To Andy) who is also credited on his debut album. While still in school, he performed with rock bands at various venues. Along with his band Cadence he opened for future guitarist Brian Craddock's band My Dog Lucy and Matt Jagger. Chris sang lead and also played rhythm guitar. In 1999 they produced the album All Eyes On You that sadly was not on any major music label. He graduated from high school in 1998 and immediately took up a job as a service advisor at Crown Honda, a car dealership close to where he lived.

While he worked in the day Chris sang at night. After Cadence broke up, Chris played with band Absent Element which had him on lead vocals and guitar, Mark Perry on lead guitar, Scott Crawford on drums and Ryan Andrews on bass. The band released Uprooted in 2005, which Daughtry combined and re-recorded as Breakdown for his own album.

Even though he was in the band, Chris auditioned for the CBS contest Rock Star: INXS - the search to find a new lead singer for the band INXS. He failed to make a mark and decided to try his singing skills on American Idol after his wife persuaded him to do so. After being given the golden ticket to Hollywood, he performed The First Cut Is The Deepest, Emotion and an a capella version of Your Song, receiving critical acclaim by all three judges, but was sadly eliminated in a shock result.

Undaunted, he went on to form his own band - Daughtry. Chris and members of his label held auditions for the band and chose Jeremy Brady, 21, guitarist; Josh Steely, 36, lead guitarist; Josh Paul, 29, bassist and Joey Barnes, 30, drummer. The decision to name the band 'Daughtry' was more due to his long association with the contest and the fan-recall with his name.

Shortly after, Jeremy Brady announced his departure from Daughtry and was replaced with Brian Craddock. In 2007, the band was nominated at the 50th annual Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album for Daughtry, Best Rock Song for It's Not Over, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal for Home, and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for It's Not Over. The band's second album Leave This Town was released in July 2009 with the first single No Surprise. Chris made history with its release by becoming the first American Idol alumnus to have two consecutive No.1 albums.

The bald and clean-shaven Chris is married to Deanna Robertson since November 11, 2000. He has two children, a daughter Hannah and an adopted son Griffin.

Today 30-year-old Chris is the third most successful American Idol contestant in terms of record sales, behind only ex-Idols Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood who both won their respective seasons.

Chris Daughtry

He does push-ups and vocal exercises before he performs live.

He is also an artist and loves to draw and paint during his free time

While at school, he appeared in two stage productions: The Wiz and Peter Pan.

His favourite female pop artist is Kelly Clarkson and favourite male pop artist is Rob Thomas

On every episode of American Idol in 2007's results shows, Home was played every time a participant was knocked out of the competition, as each of the losing contestants looked back at their own journeys. At the finals in May 2007, the band performed the song live at the end of the show.

In April 2008, a video of Daughtry helping and singing What About Now with the people of Uganda was shown on the American Idol special Idol Gives Back.

In July 2009, Daughtry's acoustic cover of dance diva Lady Gaga's Poker Face received over 3 million views on YouTube.

Daughtry is featured on dance producer Timbaland's new album Shock Value 2 on the song Long Way Down.

Verus Ferreira is a freelance journalist since the last 18 years. Passionate about music, he started writing for THE TEENAGER soon after finishing college. He also contributes to The Free Press Journal, The Afternoon, AV Max, Ragatorock.com and selects the in-flight audio entertainment for two international airlines.