Carrie Underwood

From Idol to Opry

Carrie Marie Underwood was born on March 10, 1983 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and raised on her parents' farm near Checotah. She won the fourth season of American Idol on May 25, 2005, and her debut Some Hearts followed on November 15, 2005. Carnival Ride came out on October 23, 2007, Play On on November 3, 2009, Blown Away on May 1, 2012 and Storyteller on October 23, 2015; later records include Cry Pretty (2018), My Gift (2020), My Savior (2021) and Denim & Rhinestones (2022). Her first headlining tour was Live 2006, from April, followed by a co-headlined tour with Keith Urban in January 2008, the Carnival Ride Tour from February to December 2008 and the Blown Away Tour, which opened at the Royal Albert Hall in London on June 21, 2012.

She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2008. In 2013 she played Maria von Trapp in NBC's The Sound of Music Live!, and she has sung the NBC Sunday Night Football intro since that year. She became an American Idol judge in 2025. Wikipedia counts eight Grammys including Best New Artist in 2007, seventeen American Music Awards, the most among female country artists, twelve Billboard Music Awards, two ACM Entertainer of the Year awards and seven Guinness World Records, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She founded the C.A.T.S. Foundation.