Kris Allen is this year’s winner of American Idol! Kris’ path to victory included memorable performances of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” and Kanye West’s “Heartless.” Kris was praised by the judges for his original arrangements of such well-known songs. “What I do is completely forget about the original version and ask myself how I can play the song when it comes to phrasing, chord structure and emotion. I hear what it’s going to sound like in my head and run with it. Hopefully it’s a way that no one has ever thought of doing it before.”
Since the finale, Kris has had multiple songs appear on the Billboard charts. “That was crazy!” he exclaims. “Four months before that we were all unknown. That first moment I knew I had five songs on the Billboard chart was very cool.” At the same time, his finale song “No Boundaries” was No. 1 on the iTunes chart. Kris found out when a friend sent him a text message. “I had no idea. That was crazy, too!”
Now Kris is getting ready to travel all over the United States on the “American Idols Live” summer tour. He’s writing songs and preparing to record his debut album for 19 Recordings/Jive.
It’s been an incredible journey for the 24-year-old who came very close to giving up on having a music career. “I was going to return to college and get a decent job so my wife and I could have a comfortable life together, which would have been fine. But things worked out a different way, and I’m really happy!”
