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Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25,
1984) is an American pop singer and actress who was the
runner-up to Taylor Hicks on the fifth season of
American Idol in 2006.
Early years: Born in Los Angeles, California,
McPhee moved with her parents and sister to the Sherman
Oaks neighborhood at age 12. McPhee has been singing
since the age of two. Her mother, Patricia Burch McPhee
(stage name Peisha Arten), a vocal coach and
accomplished cabaret singer, recognized a talent for
music in her daughter and decided to train her. Her
father, Daniel McPhee, is a television producer and her
older sister, Adriana Burch McPhee (born June 30, 1982)
is an aspiring producer as well.
McPhee graduated in 2002 from the Notre Dame High
School. At Notre Dame High School, McPhee was a swimmer
and a thespian. She performed in school plays with her
elder sister Adriana; both sisters were Homecoming
Princess nominees in their senior year.
Afterward, McPhee attended Boston
Conservatory for three semesters, majoring in musical
theater. McPhee left the college due to her manager's
suggestion that she try out for television pilots in Los
Angeles. In a People news article, it was reported that
she was rejected in "only 195 out of 200
auditions." She was eventually cast as
"Paramount Girl" in the 2006 musical film
about the life of Hank Garland, Crazy.
Other early acting endeavors included lead actress in
local professional productions of Annie Get Your Gun and
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. She was nominated in 2005 for
the Theatre L.A. Ovation Award for her lead role in
Annie Get Your Gun. McPhee was also part of a failed
mall-based MTV soap opera entitled You Are Here, playing
the older sister of a more popular younger sister. In
the soap opera, she was jealous of her popular younger
sister.
American Idol: McPhee was persuaded by boyfriend,
Nick Cokas, and parents to try out for American Idol.
She auditioned in San Francisco, and sang "God
Bless the Child", originally performed by Billie
Holiday. Paula Abdul said that McPhee was
"absolutely beautiful", Randy Jackson hailed
her audition as potentially the best so far that season,
and Simon Cowell complimented her for being
"current" and her audition being
"absolutely fantastic".
McPhee listed Whitney Houston and Brian McKnight as her
favorite artists in the American Idol interview of the
top 24 semi-finalists.
During the week preceding the top three show, McPhee
visited her former high school for her hometown
celebration. Antonio Villaraigosa visited Notre Dame
High School and proclaimed McPhee's visit as
"Katharine McPhee Day."
McPhee's run on American Idol led to the popular use of
the term "McPheever", coined by Ralph Garman
of Los Angeles radio station KROQ's morning show Kevin
and Bean. She also referred to her fans as the "Kat
Pack" and "McPhans".
McPhee was congratulated by Congressman Brad Sherman of
Sherman Oaks, the 27th district of California, who
raised a flag in her honor at the United States Capitol
on the day of the finale show. McPhee was credited with
performing K.T. Tunstall's "Black Horse and the
Cherry Tree" during the Idol final run.
During the Idol Finale, McPhee dueted with Meat Loaf.
They performed It's All Coming Back To Me Now, which
Loaf would go on to record with Rocker Chick' Marion
Raven, whose voice has been compared to Katharine's.
During the competition, McPhee roomed with fellow
contestant Kellie Pickler, and when Pickler was
eliminated, she roomed with Paris Bennett.
Post-Idol: On June 6, 2006, Sony BMG and 19
Entertainment announced that McPhee had signed to
American Idol series creator Simon Fuller's 19
Recordings Limited and Sony BMG's RCA Records.
McPhee's debut single, "Somewhere Over the
Rainbow/My Destiny" was released on June 27, 2006
by RCA Records. "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"
peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "My
Destiny" peaked at #60. Thirty-two weeks after its
release, Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny had
climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales charts.
It was 2nd highest best-selling single of 2006 after
Taylor Hicks's "Do I Make You Proud?".
McPhee toured with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, and
performed in three of his concerts during his tour in
the United States from June 9 through June 11, 2006.
In June 2006, McPhee revealed to People magazine that
she previously suffered from bulimia. After a period of
about five years, she began treatment after qualifying
for American Idol. During her run on American Idol, she
lost 30 lbs.
McPhee missed the start of the American Idols LIVE! Tour
2006, due to severe bronchitis and laryngitis. McPhee
commented on her illness in a public interview, saying
"I just have to sing easily so I can get through
the tour... I bruised [my vocal cords] because I was
doing so much coughing". McPhee eventually joined
the tour on July 28, in Washington, D.C. just in time
for all ten finalists to visit the White House to meet
President George W. Bush. The day prior to returning to
the Idol's tour, McPhee was a guest co-host on The View.
On July 21, 2006, Broadway World announced that McPhee
is co-producing Michael Albanese's play Red Herring
along with Robert Hawk, Angelina Bruno, and Jeff Kasal.
McPhee was quoted in the promo as describing a desire to
become involved in theatre, stating that although
"audiences know me best from American Idol... my
passion has always been theatre." The play will be
a part of the 10th Annual New York International Fringe
Festival.
McPhee and her sister appeared on debut of The Dr. Keith
Ablow Show on September 18, 2006 to discuss her
struggles with an eating disorder, bulimia, and her
childhood fear of her father. On the show, McPhee stated
that she was thought to have a learning disability
during her middle school years but was finally diagnosed
with a vision problem.
2007: Katharine McPhee: McPhee's self-titled
debut album sold 116,000 copies its first week, debuting
at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The first single from
the album was the Top 30 hit, "Over It".
"Over It"'s music video hit #1 on both TRL's
and VH1's Top 20 countdown. "Over It" debuted
at #1 on the VH1 top 20 countdown, and maintained the
top position for three consecutive weeks. The song's
video also hit #1 on MTV Asia's Pop 10 Chart for 12
consecutive weeks. "Love Story" has been
confirmed to be the next single and music video from
McPhee's album.
Filmography: McPhee will make her studio acting
debut as a pregnant hippie in an comedy titled House
Bunny starring Anna Faris and directed by Fred Wolf for
Columbia Pictures and Adam Sandler's Happy Madison
Prods.The film co-stars Rumer Willis, Emma Stone and
Colin Hanks.
On August 29 MTV reported that the movie
is now called “I Know What Boys Like". Katharine
will also be the star of the indie dark romantic comedy,
The Last Caller, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
McPhee's character will be a narcissistic woman
searching for love and other meaning. The role
reportedly does not involve singing. |
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