Meet Carly Smithson, an Irish singer and songwriter who finished sixth on the seventh season of “American Idol”. See her biography, photos and video here.
Now that another season of “American Idol” has started up, people are talking about this year’s Carly Smithson. Will it be Joanna Pacitti? Viewers are comparing them because they both seem to be light years ahead of the competition right out of the gates. When Carly appeared on the show, she was an early favorite and her early departure shocked viewers. Even though she didn’t win, Carly has been fairly successful, now in the process of recording an album with an Idol from season 5.
As a biography, Carly Smithson was born Carly Hennessy on September 12, 1983 in Dublin, Ireland, so her age is 25. She has been singing since she was four years old and even caught a bit of the acting bug. By age 5 she was appearing in commercials and in 1992 she landed a role in Les Miserables.
Carly auditioned for season 5 of “American Idol”. Although unanimously accepted into Hollywood, her visa paperwork didn’t go through on time and she had to step down. Fortunately, her paperwork issues were resolved by season 7 and she made it, not only to Hollywood, but to the top 12. Carly finished sixth overall. Controversy followed her throughout the show, from the show’s fans being angry that this contestant had already had her shot and failed, to Carly’s fans being angry at her departure, accusing the show of preventing votes for certain contestants.
Prior to her stint on “American Idol”, Carly released two CDs. At the age of 10 “Carly’s Christmas Album” hit stores, and in 2001 her independent album “Ultimate High” was released. Neither was commercially successful, but they did get her a start in the recording industry, and since “American Idol”, they’ve started popping back up on record store shelves.
Carly is married to Todd Smithson. He is a tattoo artist in San Diego; he owns his own shop, Nothing Sacred. Carly also works there and has nine tattoos.
See more photos of Carly Smithson and a video below.
Photos: wenn.com
January 25th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
[...] to as one of this year’s plants, and the controversy has begun. Similar to the backlash Carly Smithson received for having already had a recording contract, Raquel is feeling the heat for the contract [...]