Carrie Underwood won Female Vocalist of the Year honors and her song "Before He Cheats" also captured a 2007 Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year during last night's live broadcast of the ceremony on ABC.
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"God has blessed me with so many wonderful things in my life, and I will spend my entire life trying to figure out why. If you had told me a few years ago that I would be nominated with the same people I've been nominated with, I would have called you absolutely insane... It all started for me with American Idol. Thank you everybody... Just all the great people in country music. You guys are absolutely amazing and I'm so proud to be in this format."
This is the second year in a row Underwood has received multiple CMA award victories. The Idol fourth-season champ won both Female Vocalist of the Year and the Horizon Award, an award given to up-and-coming country stars, during last year's ceremony.
Last year, Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel" was also nominated for Music Video of the Year -- however she failed to win the award -- and "Before He Cheats" suffered a similar fate this year, losing to Brad Paisley's "Online."
Kellie Pickler had a chance to be the second former Idol finalist in a row to win the Horizon Award, as the fifth-season fifth-place finisher was nominated for it this year. However the Horizon Award instead went to Taylor Swift.
Pickler still performed her single "I Wonder" during the ceremony. The song centers on Pickler's estranged mother -- who abandoned her when she was 2-years-old -- and she was emotional throughout the performance and left Nashville's Sommet Center stage in tears, speaking the last line of the song instead of singing it. [see the video below]
Nashville Star first-season third-place finisher Miranda Lambert was also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year, however she lost the award to Underwood. The two are familiar CMA foes, as Underwood also bested Lambert for last year's Horizon Award.
Original Idol champ Kellie Clarkson's "Because of You" duet with friend Reba McIntyre was nominated for Musical Event of the Year, however it lost to "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" by Tracy Lawrence featuring Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. The award was presented in a ceremony earlier in the night.
In addition to Pickler, the 2007 CMA ceremony also featured performances by Lambert and Underwood.
Dancing with the Stars third-season celebrity participant Sara Evans; Nashville Star third-season host LeAnn Rimes; Nashville Star fifth-season host Jewel and her boyfriend, Ty Murray's Celebrity Bull Riding Challenge star and Fast Cars and Superstars contestant Ty Murray; as well as Idol fifth-season eighth-place finisher Bucky Covington also made appearances during the ceremony.
