Former American Idol finalists Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry both came away as big winners at last night's 2007 American Music Awards ceremony.
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The band's Favorite Breakthrough Artist Award was presented by Underwood, who won the award at the 2006 AMA ceremony last fall.
"Wow... I can't believe we're in a category with Justin Timberlake and Lincoln Park. It's pretty awesome," said Daughtry after his band took home the ceremony's Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist honors. "I want to make sure that we thank the fans again because you make this all possible for us. We get to do what we love to do every day of our lives -- and it's our job -- and it's not really a job."
Unlike Daughtry, Underwood is no stranger to being honored at the American Music Awards. However similar to Daughtry, the Idol 4 champ also won awards in all three categories she received 2007 AMA nominations: Favorite Country Female Artist, Favorite Country Album and the T-Mobile Text-in Award for Favorite Artist.
"Oh my gosh! I have the most wonderful fans ever, and they prove that to me five million times a day every single day," said Underwood after claiming Favorite Country Female Artist, an award she was also nominated for last year but lost to Faith Hill. "I'd like to thank the fans first and foremost for giving all of us here jobs."
Underwood's debut album "Some Hearts" also took home Favorite Country Album honors, an award that was presented by Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland and guitarist Slash.
"If anyone would have told me that Scott Weiland and Slash would have presented me an award, I really don't know what I would have thought about that," said Underwood after accepting the honors. "But this is pretty amazing. I love country music!... Thank you fans for going out and buying this album. You guys are amazing! This is one heck of a night!"
While it might have been one heck of a night for Underwood and Daughtry, the same couldn't be said for some of their fellow former Idol finalists who were also nominated for 2007 AMA honors.
Idol 3 champ Fantasia Barrino received a 2007 AMA nod for Favorite Female Soul/R&B Artist, however she lost the award to Rihanna. Fantasia is now 0-for-2 in the AMA Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist category, as she was also nominated in 2005 but lost to Mariah Carey.
In addition, the Dreamgirls soundtrack landed a 2007 AMA nomination for Favorite Soundtrack. Idol 3 seventh-place finisher Jennifer Hudson -- who won an Academy Award for her for her portrayal of Effie White in Dreamgirls -- contributed to the film's soundtrack, however it lost the 2007 AMA to Disney's High School Musical 2 soundtrack.
Several other reality stars also made appearances at the 2007 AMA ceremony, including Idol 6 champ Jordin Sparks; former Idol 5 finalist Kellie Pickler; Idol host Ryan Seacrest; Dancing with the Stars fifth-season celebrity participants Melanie Brown, Jennie Garth and Helio Castroneves; and Gene Simmon Family Jewels patriarch Gene Simmons. In addition, Daughtry also performed.
It was somewhat appropriate that Idol was well represented at the show since the award ceremony took an Idol-like approach in determining its winners. AMA winners were previously chosen by polling 20,000 music buyers -- however for the first time in the ceremony's 35-year history, the winners of the 2007 honors were determined via online voting on ABC's website. As in previous years, the nominees were determined based on national sales and radio play data.
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Approximately 1.2 million fan votes were cast for the ceremony, AMA producers told Reuters. With the exception of the Text-In Award, all voting took place between October 9 and November 1, according to ABC. Text-In Award voting began on November 5 and continued until about 9:30PM ET last night.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
