From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since February 2007.

Diana DeGarmo
Diana DeGarmo performs for sailors during a United Service Organization (USO) show aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Persian Gulf. December 29, 2005.
Background information
Birth name	Diana Nicole DeGarmo
Born	June 16, 1987 (age 19) Birmingham, Alabama
Origin	Snellville, Georgia (USA)
Label(s)	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 was the second place finalist 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 third season's set of finalists; she was a junior in Snellville, Georgia at Shiloh High School.

Diana recently starred on Broadway in the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical Hairspray as Penny Pingleton.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, 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, performing 225 shows a day. 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.

She performed on the “American Idols Live” tour with the other season 3 Idol finalists during the summer of 2004. She toured independently in 2005 in support of Blue Skies.

She appeared as a guest on FOX News's The O'Reilly Factor on 27 November 2006 to discuss a stalking and identity theft incident.

Diana took part in the television phenomenon of "American Idol" in the show's third season, placing second after a close race with winner Fantasia Barrino. Diana was known for her power-house performances, as well as her ability to perform songs with ease at such a young age, as she was only 16 years old at the time of the show. A record of what Diana sang on the show can be found as follows:
Top 32 Group 1: "I Got The Music In Me"
Top 12 Soul Week: "Think"
Top 11 Country Week: "Broken Wing"
Top 10 Motown Week: "Do You Love Me"
Top 9 Elton John Week: "I'm Still Standin'"
Top 8 Movie Week: "My Heart Will Go On"
Top 7 Barry Manilow Week: "One Voice"
Top 6 Latin Week: "Turn The Beat Around"
Top 5 Special: "Think"
Top 5 Big Band Week: "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Get Happy"
Top 4 Disco Week: "This Is It", "No More Tears"
Top 3 Special: "Turn The Beat Around"
Top 3 Judges Choice: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Because You Loved Me", "Don't Cry Out Loud"
Top 2 Finale Week: "I Believe", "No More Tears", "Don't Cry Out Loud"
Diana was considered as one of the most improved contestants as the competition went on; though judge Simon Cowell was known for giving her a hard time because of her age throughout, she even won him over eventually on Disco Night by growing as a performer and singer.

In November of 2005, DeGarmo appeared as Maria in the American Musical Theatre of San Jose's production of West Side Story.

On February 7, 2006, she made her Broadway debut as Penny Pingleton in the musical Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theatre. She starred in the show until May 21, 2006. She later returned to the role from September 8, 2006 to February 11, 2007.

DeGarmo was cast in the lead role of Brooklyn in the national tour of BKLYN: The Musical over the summer of 2006. The production also starred Broadway favorites and Tony Award winners Melba Moore and Cleavant Derricks.

DeGarmo also performed in a musical concert, "In Your Dreams," in early October 2006 in a musical said to have a similar plot to High School Musical. DeGarmo performed alongside some of her Hairspray co-stars, and other Broadway stars as well.

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 2 other songs: her version of "I Believe" cowritten 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 November 2006, sales are at 165,000 copies. Her single "Emotional" again co-written by Chris Braide, Desmond Child and Andreas Carlsson, peaked at #54 on the Mediabase Pop Chart.

Diana is said to be recording a second album.

(December 7, 2004)

Diana DeGarmo's debut album Blue Skies

(June 29, 2004)

Diana DeGarmo's single, "Dreams"

(March 15, 2005)

Ice Princess Soundtrack

DeGarmo's second album is currently in progress. DeGarmo began recording her new album in 2005, and continued to record sporadically throughout 2006 and 2007 as she lived in New York City performing in "Hairspray" on Broadway.

DeGarmo has stated in recent interviews that her new album is taking a new direction. She has said it will be "a little more funk, a little more dance, a little more R&B" than her first album. She has also stated that lyrically, the material would be both personal and general. DeGarmo has not said who is working on her new record but rapper RealLifeCynic (from Miami) has mentioned on his MySpace page that he is working with DeGarmo -- though there has been no official confirmation on that as of yet. In early 2006, DeGarmo joined the roster of a new management company, Mauldin Brand Agency.

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

On September 17th, 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.

• Blue Skies (2004) #52 US (RCA)

• Dreams (2004) #1 (Sales Chart) #14 (Hot 100)
• Emotional (2004)

• The song Boy Like You, included in her album Blue Skies, was performed in Spanish by the Mexican pop band Nikki Clan under the name No me digas que no (Don't tell me no).

• DeGarmo has sung at a number of NBA, NFL, NASCAR and Major League Baseball events. Most recently, she sang "God Bless America" at a New York Mets playoff game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Shea Stadium on October 5, 2006.

• On November 23, 2006, DeGarmo appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the King Tutenstein float performing the original song The Pharaoh Strut.

• DeGarmo is niece to Eddie DeGarmo of DeGarmo & Key.^[2]

• After Idol, DeGarmo was victim to identity theft. A young woman in Australia stole her credit card number by installing a keylogger on DeGarmo's computer and tracked e-mails between her and her mother before purchasing thousands of dollars worth of computer products online. The thief is now being sentenced in Australia, and DeGarmo's credit record is back to normal.^[3]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Diana DeGarmo

• Diana's Official Dream Team
• Diana's Official MySpace
• Mauldin Brand Agency
• Hairspray Official Broadway Website