1. Kristopher Neil Allen was born on June 21,1985 and is an American singer, songwriter, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol.
55 Facts About Kris Allen
1. 2.
Kris Allen's post-Idol self-titled album was released on November 17,2009, by Jive Records.
3.
Kris Allen released his fifth studio album, Letting You In, on March 18,2016.
4.
Kris Allen was born in Jacksonville, Arkansas, to Kimberly and Neil Kris Allen.
5.
Kris Allen is the elder of two sons; his younger brother, Daniel, is a college cheerleading coach.
6.
Kris Allen began playing the viola in elementary school and went on to play the instrument in the Mills University Studies High School orchestra, eventually winning a spot in the Arkansas all-state orchestra.
7.
Kris Allen played publicly for several years before trying out for Idol, even opening for earlier Idol contestant Sean Michel on multiple occasions.
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Kris Allen has described his decision to audition for American Idol as a "last hurrah" before giving up his pursuit of a music career.
9.
Kris Allen served as a worship leader for New Life Church in Conway and Little Rock, AR, as well as for the Chi Alpha campus ministry.
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Kris Allen dropped out of college in the middle of his junior year to pursue music professionally, performing in local bars and working as a shoe salesman to make ends meet.
11.
Kris Allen planned to go back to college to finish his degree and "get a real job", but instead was persuaded to audition for American Idol along with his brother Daniel and his friend Cale Mills.
12.
Kris Allen realized during college that he wanted to play music professionally and began trying to write music.
13.
Kris Allen played his first gig at a local venue in downtown Conway during his sophomore year, and he went on to drop out of college in the middle of his junior year to follow his dream of becoming a professional musician.
14.
Kris Allen worked as a shoe salesman at a sporting goods store during the day to make ends meet and continued playing gigs in Little Rock and Fayetteville at night.
15.
In 2007, Kris Allen wrote and self-produced an album entitled Brand New Shoes with college friends and bandmates Michael Holmes and Chase Erwin.
16.
Kris Allen auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in Louisville, Kentucky, with his brother Daniel, who did not make it to Hollywood.
17.
Kris Allen played several instruments during his performances, including the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the keyboard, and the piano.
18.
Kris Allen accompanied himself on all of these songs with his guitar.
19.
On May 20,2009, Kris Allen was declared the winner of the eighth season of American Idol, becoming the first married contestant to claim the title, as well as the sixth winner from the show's inception from the Southern United States.
20.
Kris Allen became the first winner to accept a trophy shaped like a microphone.
21.
Kris Allen has admitted that the alleged disparity in votes was a "total surprise" to him.
22.
Kris Allen's victory was seen as highly controversial as viewers and the media speculated about the details of the result.
23.
On June 7,2009, Kris Allen performed the National Anthem at Game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals to a packed house including Adam Levine, Jack Nicholson, Rihanna, Paula Abdul and Leonardo DiCaprio.
24.
On his self-titled debut album, Kris Allen collaborated with Claude Kelly, David Hodges, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Salaam Remi and Joe King of The Fray.
25.
Kris Allen worked with Toby Gad, Alex Band of The Calling, Dan Wilson of Semisonic, Chris Daughtry and Mat Kearney for the album.
26.
Kris Allen wrote or co-wrote 9 of 12 tracks on the album.
27.
On February 19,2010, Kris Allen traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation in order to raise awareness for the disaster relief efforts there as the UN and other groups continue to rebuild after the earthquake.
28.
Kris Allen performed the song live at the American Idol Season 9 finale on May 26,2010.
29.
That same night, Kris Allen joined the other Idol winners to sing "Together We Are One" to honor Simon Cowell.
30.
Kris Allen hit the road for his first solo tour during June and July 2010 with Green River Ordinance and Justin Gaston as opening acts.
31.
Kris Allen then went on to join a few major tours over the rest of the summer, opening for Barenaked Ladies, Maroon 5, and Keith Urban between July and September 2010.
32.
Kris Allen then opened for Lifehouse during October and November 2010.
33.
Kris Allen revealed that the third single off his album would be "Alright with Me" on October 6,2010.
34.
Kris Allen co-wrote a song, "Still Got Tonight", with Andrew Frampton and Steve Kipner that appeared as the second single on Glee's Matthew Morrison's self-titled debut album released May 10,2011.
35.
On May 29,2011, Kris Allen sang "God Bless the USA" at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, DC, aired live by PBS.
36.
Kris Allen co-wrote a song, "Raise Your Hand", with Andrew Frampton and Kevin Hughes that appears on The Voice first season winner Javier Colon's debut album Come Through For You released November 21,2011.
37.
Kris Allen debuted several new songs at an acoustic concert at The Mint in Los Angeles on February 9,2012.
38.
Kris Allen auditioned for the lead role in the 2012 musical film Rock of Ages, but lost the role to Diego Boneta.
39.
On September 4,2012, Kris Allen revealed that he parted ways with 19 Management when his contract expired in May 2012 and has signed with new management, Pearl Group Entertainment.
40.
From January 8 to May 3,2013, Kris Allen toured the United States on his second solo tour Out Alive.
41.
On January 8,2014, Kris Allen entered the recording studio with producer Charlie Peacock to begin recording his third post-Idol album at Peacock's studio in Nashville.
42.
Kris Allen performed multiple tracks from the album live acoustically on Yahoo.
43.
Kris Allen did a tour of the US and Canada with the group Boyce Avenue in the fall of 2014.
44.
Kris Allen has continued to tour in early 2015, including performing at US military bases in Italy and Portugal.
45.
Kris Allen released a new single, "When All The Stars Have Died," on June 29,2018.
46.
On September 20,2019, Kris Allen released 10, which consisted of reworked versions of songs from his previous albums.
47.
The album title referenced that it had been ten years since Kris Allen won American Idol and began his music career.
48.
In Morocco, during his first mission trip, Kris Allen contracted a rare form of hepatitis that left him sick for an entire year after returning home.
49.
Kris Allen chose to leave behind a brand new guitar for the church to use even though that was the only guitar he owned at the time.
50.
Kris Allen is a strong proponent of music education, and since winning Idol, he has become heavily involved with several charitable organizations that promote music education, including the Music Empowers Foundation and Little Kids Rock.
51.
In November 2011, Kris Allen announced that he would be growing a mustache for four weeks to give his fans an incentive to support DonorsChoose and Music Empowers in their efforts to promote music education in public schools.
52.
Kris Allen has been a supporter of TOMS Shoes and participated in the company's first shoe drop in Rwanda in March 2010.
53.
In February 2010, Kris Allen traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation to help with relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake.
54.
In November 2012, Kris Allen visited World Vision's project in Kenya.
55.
Kris Allen married his high school sweetheart Katy O'Connell on September 26,2008.