Short Biography

Early life

Christopher Adam Daughtry was born in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. His parents, Pete and Sandra Daughtry, reside in Lake Monticello, Virginia in Palmyra, Virginia, where Daughtry was raised before he relocated to McLeansville outside of Greensboro, North Carolina. His brother, Kenneth, resides in Victoria, Virginia.[1]

In his spare time, Daughtry is an artist, specializing in drawing and painting young boys, and he reads comic books avidly. At the age of 16, Daughtry started taking singing seriously as a professional musician and became a performer with other rock bands during his time in high school. It was while in high school that he appeared in two stage productions: The Wiz and Peter Pan. His first public performance was singing "Achy Breaky Heart" at his grandfather`s bar. He graduated from Fluvanna High School in 1998. Daughtry`s first job was a service worker at a car dealership at Crown Honda, in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 2005, Daughtry auditioned for the CBS singing contest, Rock Star: INXS. He did not make the cut for the actual filming of the show.

Daughtry was a lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of his own rock bands in Burlington. The CD of Daughtry`s ex-band, Absent Element, began to float the internet during the 2006 season of "American Idol."

In a segment on the 2006 season of American Idol, Daughtry revealed that he is balding and made the decision to shave his head completely in order to retain an aesthetically pleasing appearance.[2] He has one step-daughter from his wife`s previous marriage, and one adopted son. His daughter, Hannah Price, was born in July 1998, and his son, Griffin Daughtry, was born in January 2001.

[edit] Absent Element

Before Daughtry rose to fame on American Idol, Daughtry was the lead singer for the band Absent Element. Absent Element consisted of Daughtry on lead vocals and guitar, Mark Perry on lead guitar, Scott Crawford on drums and Ryan Andrews on bass. Absent Element released Uprooted in 2005. This CD contains the songs Conviction & Breakdown, which Daughtry combined and re-recorded as the song Breakdown, which appears on the Daughtry CD.

[edit] American Idol

Daughtry auditioned for American Idol in Denver, Colorado with The Boxtops` "The Letter"; he was portrayed as a young rocker with Southern and hard rock influences. He passed the audition by a split decision: approved by Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, disapproved by Simon Cowell. Simon felt that Chris at that time was too robotic.

On March 1, 2006, Daughtry`s "raw" performance of Fuel`s "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" received critical acclaim by all three judges. On March 3, 2006, Jackson stated in an interview that Daughtry had been offered the opportunity to become Fuel`s new lead singer.[3] On May 11, 2006, the day following his Idol departure, Extra also took up the scoop. At a welcome home party Chris Daughtry said he had declined the offer.[4]

Daughtry was in the final four on May 10, 2006, and in a shocker was eliminated from the competition. He was in the bottom two with Katharine McPhee. After Ryan Seacrest announced Chris was going home that night, both Daughtry and McPhee were extremely shocked. Seacrest asked Daughtry if he was surprised. An obviously stunned Daughtry could only utter, "A little, yeah".

There has been some controversy regarding the accuracy of the vote count on the night Daughtry was eliminated. The vote-tallying

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