Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and occasional actress who rose to prominence after winning the first season of the reality-television series American Idol in 2002. Signed to RCA Records, she was initially marketed as a pop musician with her commercially successful debut album Thankful (2003). Clarkson took more creative control over her music and developed a more rock-oriented image for the release of her second album Breakaway (2004), which yielded the highest sales of her career and received two Grammy Awards. Clarkson has released numerous worldwide top-ten singles, and her two albums to date have received platinum certifications in several countries.
Clarkson was born in Fort Worth, Texas on April 24, 1982. She is the third and youngest child of Jeanne Ann Taylor, a first grade English teacher of Greek descent, and Stephen Michael Clarkson, a former engineer of Welsh extraction. Clarkson's siblings include her older brother Jason, and her older sister Alyssa. When Clarkson was six years old, her parents separated after seventeen years of marriage; her brother went to live with her father, her sister went to live with an aunt, and Clarkson remained with her mother. Following the separation, Clarkson frequently moved around Texas while their mother managed several occupations in order to support the family. Being six-years-old at the time, Clarkson did not understand why her family had been constantly moving and said that children usually do not comprehend the process of divorce. Eventually, the family settled in Burleson, Texas and Clarkson's mother subsequently remarried to Jimmy Taylor.
