DAUGHTRY
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Like any #AmIdol finalist, Daughtry had a long run as an amateur musician. The North Carolina native -- born in Roanoke Rapids, he lived in Charlottesville, VA, before establishing himself in the Greensboro area -- began singing in local ock bands when he was 16 years old. He continued to play locally after his high-school graduation in 1998, marrying his girlfriend %Deanna in 2000, a few months after the January 2000 birth of their son %Griffin (he adopted %Deannas daughter from a previous marriage). Family man he may have been, but Daughtry didnt let his ock & roll dream die, as he continued to play guitar and sing in a band called Absent Element. He auditioned for #Rock Star: INXS in 2005 but was rejected -- a rejection that turned out to be rather fortunate since it freed him to audition for the far more popular televised singing competition #American Idol.
Daughtry was featured heavily during the shows seemingly never-ending audition rounds for two reasons: he was telegenic and he capitalized on the rocker promise of Bo Bice and Constantine Maroulis from the previous season. He was bald and handsome, he possessed a terrific smile, and his devotion to his family made for great TV. He sailed through to Hollywood and made it into the final 12, where he was hailed as a standout early on and soon seemed to be a favorite to win. Daughtry mania began to peak in March when his rendition of Fuels Hemorrhage (In My Hands) caused such a sensation that rumors began to fly that Fuel wanted to hire him as their lead singer -- something that proved no rumor, as the modern ock group, savoring the new press, practically pleaded for his presence after he was voted off the show. But this was still two long months away -- two months where he continued to be one of the top draws in the season, even courting some controversy when he sang Lives arrangement for Johnny Cashs I Walk the Line. This moody reinterpretation was misinterpreted as a Daughtry original, and on the results show he had to clarify where he learned this version. Still, this controversy paled to when he was voted off the show in May: Daughtry was one of the final four and Katharine McPhee just narrowly beat him, a result that visibly shocked the rocker. Daughtry would soon have the last laugh.
After he was kicked off of #Idol, he turned down Fuels standing offer of replacing their lead singer and set off on his own career, signing with #Idols 19 Entertainment group and RCA Records in July of 2006. By the time the album materialized in November, it had turned into a project by a band called DAUGHTRY (spelled all in capital letters) -- the band featured guitarist Jeremy Brady, guitarist Josh Steely, bassist Josh Paul, and drummer Joey Barnes, but they did not play as a band on the finished album; Brady was replaced after the albums release by Brian Craddock -- a matter of semantics overlooked by most, especially in light of the albums blockbuster success. Like many hotly anticipated albums of the SoundScan era, it debuted high on the charts but it didnt drop down quickly: it stayed in the Top Ten for month after month, as did the first single, Its Not Over. This meant that DAUGHTRY was not only a huge hit by #Idol standards, it was one of the few hit ock albums -- period -- in 2006. DAUGHTRY didnt debut at number one, but it climbed to the top in January 2007 (granted, it only sold about 65,000 copies the week it was at number one, but thats still an impressive feat) and stayed in the Top Ten well into the new year, as did the single Its Not Over. By February, it was evident that his popularity eclipsed those of his #American Idol rivals Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee.
