Diana DeGarmo

Diana DeGarmo
Diana DeGarmo in the American Idol Experience motorcade at Walt Disney World.
Background information
Birth name	Diana Nicole DeGarmo
Born	June 16, 1987 (1987-06-16) (age 22) Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Origin	Snellville, Georgia, USA
Years active	2003 - present
Labels	RCA Records (2004-2005)
Website	Official site

Diana Nicole DeGarmo (born June 16, 1987 in Birmingham, Alabama) is an American singer and Broadway actress. She finished as the runner-up on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol, narrowly missing the win by about 2% (approximately 1.3 million votes) out of over 65 million votes.^[1] At 16, DeGarmo was the second youngest contestant among the set of finalists in the third season after John Stevens; she was a junior at Shiloh High School in Snellville, Georgia.

Biography

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, and moved to Snellville, DeGarmo went to Crews Middle School. DeGarmo has been singing publicly from a young age, including at the 1997 Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards and in stage productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Atlanta. As a third grade student, she was a Coca-Cola Kid during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The next year, she sang at Opryland USA during the Christmas holiday season. In 2002, she was named Miss Teen Georgia and was a finalist on the NBC talent search program America's Most Talented Kid. At ten years of age, DeGarmo was one of the "Cartoon Network Kids". She has also appeared in various telefilms during her childhood. DeGarmo is niece to Eddie DeGarmo of DeGarmo & Key.^[2]

American Idol

DeGarmo took part in the third season of American Idol in 2004, finishing second after a close race with winner Fantasia Barrino. DeGarmo was known for her ability to perform songs with ease at such a young age.

She started off as the first contestant to perform in the top 32, and was the second voted into the finals, after eventual winner Fantasia Barrino. However, she ended up in the bottom 3 in three of the first five weeks. Surprisingly, starting from the top 7, she was never in the bottom 3 or 2, gradually becoming one of the front runners in the competition.

Performances

The songs DeGarmo sang on the show follow:

Post-Idol music career

Diana DeGarmo performs for sailors during a United Service Organization (USO) show aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Persian Gulf. December 29, 2005.

She performed on the "American Idols Live" tour with the other season three finalists.

DeGarmo released a single, "Dreams," on June 29, 2004. The song was co-written by songwriter Chris Braide, who also co-wrote "This Is the Night" for Clay Aiken. It includes two other songs: her version of "I Believe", co-written by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray, and a remake of Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud".

DeGarmo's debut album, titled Blue Skies, was released on December 7, 2004, to opening week sales of 47,000. The album came in at #52 in the Billboard chart. As of October 2008, sales are at 168,000 copies.^[3] Her single "Emotional"--again co-written by Chris Braide, Desmond Child and Andreas Carlsson—peaked at #54 on the Mediabase Pop Chart. Idol finalists during the summer of 2004, which included a show in Singapore in October 2004. She toured independently in 2005 in support of Blue Skies.

In December 2005, DeGarmo entertained troops in Southwest Asia on a USO tour hosted by General Peter Pace.^[4] Also in 2005, DeGarmo appeared on the soundtrack for Disney movie Ice Princess, singing "Reaching for Heaven", written by Desmond Child.

DeGarmo began recording a pop/R&B album in 2007,^[5] however she backed out of the project after it took a detour she did not want to take.^[6] After filming CMT's Gone Country in late 2007, DeGarmo decided to return to her country roots and relocated to Nashville. She is now signed to John Rich's production company and currently recording a country-pop album in Nashville.^[7] DeGarmo now continues to co-write and performs new songs at live shows in and around the Nashville area. In early 2009, DeGarmo released an acoustic EP entitled "Unplugged in Nashville". The EP contains 4 songs co-written by DeGarmo and is currently available at her live shows and on at online retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, etc. One of the songs, "Thank You", can be streamed from DeGarmo's MySpace page.

Musical theatre

As a child, DeGarmo performed in productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat in Atlanta, Georgia. She made her stage debut in a lead role as Maria in an American Musical Theatre of San Jose production of West Side Story in November 2005. Auditions for Hairspray and Brooklyn: The Musical followed shortly thereafter. DeGarmo made her Broadway debut in a four-month run in Hairspray as nerdy character Penny Pingleton in February 2006, impressing audiences with her comedic prowess. She also performed the lead role of Brooklyn in the 2006 national tour of Brooklyn: The Musical alongside one of her idols, Melba Moore. DeGarmo returned to Broadway's Hairspray for a second engagement from September 2006 to February 2007. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in April 2007.

DeGarmo also performed in a musical concert, In Your Dreams, in early October 2006 for a new musical said to have a similar plot to High School Musical.

DeGarmo was set to star alongside Tony Award nominee Gavin Creel in the Broadway revival of Godspell at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, but on August 19, 2008, it was announced that the show was postponed indefinitely due to the loss of an investor.^[8]

In early 2009 she starred as Dorothy in a tour of Oz the Musical, a contemporary version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

DeGarmo starred in the musical revue Back to Bacharach and David featuring the songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David in Los Angeles from April 15 to May 17, 2009 at the Music Box at Fonda on Hollywood Boulevard.^[9]

She most recently starred as the narrator in the Oklahoma Lyric's Theatre production of Joseph and the Amazing Techicolor Dreamcoat alongside Idol alum Anthony Federov which ran from July 21 through July 25, 2009.^[10]

Debuting August 14, 2009, DeGarmo currently plays the role of Sarah, the sexy, blind librarian and love interest of "Toxie" in the Off-Broadway musical, The Toxic Avenger.^[11]

Other activities

In late 2007/early 2008, DeGarmo participated as a Southern celebrity in television ads for the Zaxby's restaurant chain. She also appeared as a guest voice on The Fairly OddParents "Fairy Idol" episode as Cosmo after Cosmo watches "How to Sing Like Diana DeGarmo".

DeGarmo has also gained attention on The Howard Stern Show, where Wack Packer and frequent caller Eric the Midget has discussed his crush on her, going so far as to call her mother several times and write a thus-far unpublished children's book in which he marries her. During Eric the Midget's first in-studio appearance on November 3, 2008, DeGarmo made an unannounced visit to meet him. She said that fans would approach her during live appearances to tell her of the mentions on the show. During the visit, DeGarmo laughed at a few jokes at her own expense and turned down a dinner date request from Eric, saying her boyfriend would not like it.^[12]

Awards and charts

DeGarmo's first single, "Dreams", debuted at #2 in record sales and went #1 on the Billboard US Singles Sales Chart.

On September 17, 2005, DeGarmo received the Horizon Award at the Georgia Music Hall Of Fame Awards ceremony. The award recognizes Georgia artists on the path to successful and lengthy careers.

Discography

The following is a complete discography of every album and single released by American music artist Diana DeGarmo.

Albums

Album singles

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Diana DeGarmo

• Diana's Official Dream Team
• Diana's Official MySpace
• Diana's CMT Page
• Hairspray Official Broadway Website