Kelly Clarkson When Christmas Comes Around
by Snehashree Mandal for Country Music News International
Clarkson was one of those girls who grew up believing that music was her haven. She loved music and headed the choir group. As a conservative family, Clarkson went to the church every Sunday and Wednesday. One day while humming a song, her seventh-grade school teacher heard her and was the one who told her that her destiny was to sing. Encouraged by her teacher, she auditioned for the school choir and yet, informed her teacher she had no professional vocational training. But then she was selected and it turned into another place where she performed quite frequently.
After she completed her graduation, she received a call from several Universities including Berklee College of Music but, she declined to be a part of them. She wanted to try something on her own, and that gave way to several jobs including financing a demo, recording materials, and marketing labels but, she did not get much of any response.
Meanwhile, Jive Records and Interscope Records offered her a deal but, that too she denied them. She later stated that she feared those offers would pigeonhole her in a bubblegum act. She was also confident that something good will turn her way sooner or later.
In 2001, she left for Los Angeles and ended up working as an extra in a few selected television shows. She even worked briefly with Gery Goffin for recording five demo tracks in the hope of landing a music deal with one of the good labels.
However, all her early attempts did not bear fruit. Every single label refused to work with her as they all felt she sounded too black. When a fire broke out in her apartment, and she was left with no other job options, she went back to Burleson.
It was not even easy here, as she ended up working in a movie theatre, a telemarketer and even a cocktail waitress in a comedy club. She even worked for the promotions of Red Bull energy drinks.
But she was inspired to audition for American idol by her friends. Despite getting a golden ticket to the Hollywood rounds, Clarkson, instead, went for the second rounds. After her initial struggles at the show, she went on to win it with 58% votes landing in her favor.
But, then tides turned, and better times smiled at her when soon after her American idol success, she was offered a contract by RCA Records, 19 Recordings and S Records by the talent manager Simon Fuller, the one behind American Idol. She was pitched beside Clive Davis, a music mogul who was supposed to executive produce her album.
On 17th September, her musical album Before You Love/A Moment like This was released, and it landed in number 60. Slowly within a few weeks, the album climbed to the number one position and was seen as the biggest leap breaking none other than Beatles Records.
It eventually climbed on to become the best-selling album of 2002 in the United States.
This was the beginning of a journey in which she went on to produce many successful albums and lilting songs.
But, that was not all she had to deal with. All the success and her albums scoring one above the other, she also had an autoimmune and thyroid disease to handle since 2006. She even filed for a divorce with her husband, Brandon Blackstock, former stepson of Reba McEntire that was finalized on 3rd August 2021. Clarkson reported her health’s improvements to Dr Steven Gundry’s The Plant Paradox project.
As she moves to create a new life, she still has a lot to give that can bring joy to many lives and smiles on many faces.
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