Scotty McCreery Biography

Scott "Scotty" McCreery (born October 9, 1993) is an American country music singer from Garner, North Carolina. He won the tenth season of American Idol on May 25, 2011. He is the first American Idol winner who was born in the 1990s. His debut studio album, Clear as Day, was released in October 2011 and was certified platinum in the United States. The album includes the top 20 country songs, "I Love You This Big" and "The Trouble with Girls". He also released a Christmas album, Christmas with Scotty McCreery, which has been certified gold.

Early life

McCreery was born in 1993 to Judy (née Cooke) and Michael McCreery in Raleigh but was raised in Garner, North Carolina, along with his older sister. His father works as a manufacturing systems analyst. His father was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, to a Puerto Rican mother from San Juan and an American father. His mother works as a real estate agent and a high school teacher, and is also the daughter of a retired school teacher from Gates County, NC. He attended Timber Drive Elementary School in Garner, and later West Lake Middle School where he sang at his graduation. He also attended Garner Magnet High School where he joined a vocal ensemble, Die Meistersingers, that performs across the United States. He started out singing country tenor.

McCreery won a singing contest called "Clayton Idol" at the Clayton Harvest Festival in Clayton, North Carolina, and was one of 36 finalists in a "Rip the Hallways" contest featuring teenage vocalists in North Carolina. He has performed at various local events. He also attended Caswell Youth Retreat in the summer of 2009, and participated in the talent show there singing Long Black Train by Josh Turner.

American Idol

Overview

McCreery auditioned for the tenth season of American Idol in Milwaukee. In the Hollywood group round, he joined the "Guaps" and became embroiled in the drama when fellow group member Clint Jun Gamboa expelled Jacee Badeaux from the group. He later expressed regret for not standing up for Jacee. He was one of the five male vote getters in the semi-final round to advance to the Top 13. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, McCreery confirmed that he has Puerto Rican ancestry. "Yes, I'm Puerto Rican," said McCreery with a smile. "I have a little bit of J.Lo in me." With McCreery's father, Mike, being born in Aguadilla, to a full blooded Puerto Rican and an American father, Scotty can claim having 1/4 Puerto Rican blood, though when asked Scotty said he doesn't know very much Spanish and doesn't speak it but wishes he had learned when he was younger.

Performances/Results

Episode	Theme	Song choice	Original artist	Order #	Result
Audition	Auditioner's Choice	"Your Man"	Josh Turner	N/A	Advanced
		"Put Some Drive in Your Country"	Travis Tritt
Hollywood Round, Part 1	First Solo	"Your Man"	Josh Turner	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 2	Group Performance	"Get Ready"	The Temptations	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 3	Second Solo	"I Hope You Dance"	Lee Ann Womack	N/A	Advanced
Las Vegas Round	Songs of The Beatles Group Performance	"Hello, Goodbye"	The Beatles	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Round Final	Final Solo	"Long Black Train"	Josh Turner	N/A	Advanced
Top 24 (12 Men)	Personal Choice	"Letters from Home"	John Michael Montgomery	8	Advanced
Top 13	Your Personal Idol	"The River"	Garth Brooks	12	Safe
Top 12	Year You Were Born	"Can I Trust You with My Heart"	Travis Tritt	8	Safe
Top 11	Motown	"For Once in My Life"	Stevie Wonder	7	Safe
Top 11	Elton John	"Country Comfort"	Elton John	1	Safe
Top 9	Rock & Roll Hall of Fame	"That's All Right"	Arthur Crudup	6	Safe
Top 8	Songs from the Movies	"I Cross My Heart" "? Pure Country	George Strait	4	Safe
Top 7	Songs from the 21st Century	"Swingin'"	John Anderson	1	Safe
Top 6	Carole King	Solo "You've Got a Friend"	Carole King	4	Safe
		Duet "Up on the Roof" with Lauren Alaina	The Drifters	6
Top 5	Songs from Now and Then	"Gone"	Montgomery Gentry	4	Safe
		"Always on My Mind"	Brenda Lee	9
Top 4	Songs That Inspire	"Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)"	Alan Jackson	3	Safe
	Leiber & Stoller Songbook	"Young Blood"	The Coasters	6
Top 3	Contestant's Choice	"Amazed"	Lonestar	1	Safe
	Jimmy Iovine's Choice	"Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not"	Thompson Square	4
	Judges' Choice	"She Believes in Me"	Kenny Rogers	7
Finale	Favorite Performance	"Gone"	Montgomery Gentry	1	Winner
	George Strait's Choice	"Check Yes or No"	George Strait	3
	Coronation Song	"I Love You This Big"	Scotty McCreery	5

• ^ Due to the judges using their one save on Casey Abrams, the Top 11 remained intact for another week, when two contestants were eliminated.

Post-Idol

McCreery released his coronation single "I Love You This Big" immediately after winning the tenth season of American Idol. The song entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at number 32, becoming the highest debut for a debut single since the chart converted to BDS data the week of January 20, 1990. The song sold 171,404 units in its first week, and was certified gold on August 25, 2011. A music video for the song, shot on Angels Point near Dodger Stadium, was released on August 9, 2011.

He signed with Mercury Nashville, earning a contract that gave him over $250,000 in advances for recording the first album.

Both McCreery and Lauren Alaina were invited to present at the CMT Music Awards on June 8, 2011, and they also both performed on the Grand Ole Opry on June 10. McCreery performed "I Love You This Big" and George Strait's song "Check Yes or No." Their trip to Nashville was also featured later in an ABC Special CMA Music Fest: Country's Night to Rock where McCreery performed "Your Man" with Josh Turner at the CMA Music Festival.

McCreery toured with the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2011, which began in West Valley City, Utah on July 6, 2011 and ended in Manila, Philippines on September 21, 2011.

McCreery recorded Tim McGraw's "Please Remember Me" and it was released on March 8, 2012. It was used as the exit song on the eleventh season of American Idol.

Clear as Day (2011)

McCreery's first album, titled Clear as Day, was released on October 4, 2011. Tracks from the album include a song from Keith Urban, and the title track "Clear as Day". On October 3, 2011, the day before his debut album was scheduled to be released, GAC premiered a TV special, Introducing: Scotty McCreery.

The album sold 197,000 on its debut week, and Scotty McCreery made history as the first country act to debut at No. 1 on Billboard 200 with their first studio album, as well as the youngest man to open at the top of the chart with his debut release. It reached No. 1 on five separate Billboard charts - Billboard 200, Top Current Albums, Digital Albums, Internet Albums, and Top Country Albums. With the debut album Clear as Day reaching number one on the Billboard 200, he joins Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert as the only Idol contestants to have a number one album. Clear as Day has since been certified platinum with over 1 million units shipped.

Before the release of his album, a single from this album, "The Trouble with Girls" was premiered on radio on August 30, 2011, and released onto iTunes on September 1, 2011. The news that "The Trouble with Girls", along with the album Clear as Day, has been certified gold coincided with McCreery's appearance on Today on November 23, 2011. The next day, the Thanksgiving Day of 2011, McCreery performed "The Trouble With Girls" at the 85th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City then headlined the Macy's Great Tree Lighting at Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta in the evening.

On November 9, 2011, McCreery performed a track from his album, "Walk in the Country", and announced the CMA Radio Stations of the Year honors at the 45th Annual Country Music Association Awards The next day McCreery joined other country stars in Nashville to tape the CMA Country Christmas special that aired on ABC on December 1. He performed "The First Noel", which was included in his Christmas album the following year, during the second annual CMA Country Christmas.

On October 19, 2011, McCreery sang the National Anthem in Game 1 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. He also performed on the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade at Walt Disney World on December 25, 2011.

McCreery was nominated and won the first of his awards at the 2nd Annual American Country Awards on December 5, 2011. He performed his second single at the award show and won in the New Artist category. He also won the Best New Artist award at the ACM Awards on April 1, 2012. He further received the Breakthrough Video of the Year Award at the ACM Awards on June 6, 2012.

In 2012, he opened for Brad Paisley along with The Band Perry. The tour kicked off on January 12 with tour dates announced for the first quarter of 2012.

Christmas with Scotty McCreery (2012-present)

McCreery's second studio album and first Christmas album, Christmas with Scotty McCreery, was released on October 16, 2012. The album includes nine holiday classics and two new holiday songs. It debuted at No. 4 on Billboard 200 with sales of 41,000. The Christmas album was included in the Scotty McCreery QVC Bundle, which also contains Clear as Day, released through QVC, and sold 5,000 copies the first week. Scotty also hopes to make more Christmas albums in the future.

McCreery performed a track from the album, "Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Jingle Bells" in the Christmas in Rockefeller Center special broadcast on NBC on November 28, 2012. He also sang "Winter Wonderland" at the CMA Country Christmas show aired on ABC on December 20, 2012. He performed Santa Claus Is Back in Town at the "Christmas in Washington" gala, an annual seasonal celebration benefiting the Children's National Medical Center attended by the President.

Personal life

McCreery is a professed Christian. He graduated from Garner High School in 2012, and is currently attending North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions				Certifications	Sales
		US Country	US	CAN	NZ
Clear as Day	Release date: October 4, 2011 Label: 19/Interscope Records/ Mercury Nashville Formats: CD, digital download	1	1	4	33	US: Platinum	US: 1,154,000
Christmas with Scotty McCreery	Release date: October 16, 2012 Label: 19/Interscope Records/ Mercury Nashville Formats: CD, digital download	2	4	"?	"?	US: Gold	US: 348,000

Compilation albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions				Sales
		US Country	US	US Indie	CAN
American Idol Season 10: Scotty McCreery	Release date: May 24, 2011 Label: 19 Formats: Digital download	3	12	3	25	US sales: 42,000
Scotty McCreery QVC Bundle	Release date: October 30, 2012 Label: 19/Interscope Records/Mercury Nashville Formats: CD	20	93	"?	"?	US sales: 5,000

Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak chart positions			Sales
		US Country	US	CAN
American Idol Season 10 Highlights: Scotty McCreery	Released: June 28, 2011 Label: 19/Interscope Records/ Mercury Nashville Formats: CD, digital download	2	10	25	US: 201,000

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions			Sales	Certifications	Album
		US Country	US	CAN
2011	"I Love You This Big"	15	11	21	US: 851,000	US: Gold	Clear as Day
	"The Trouble with Girls"	17	55	"?	US: 714,000	US: Gold
2012	"Water Tower Town"	38	"?	"?	US: 93,000

Other charted songs

Year	Single	Peak positions		Sales	Album
		US Country Airplay	US Country Digital
2011	"Out of Summertime"	"?	47	"?	Clear as Day
2012	"Please Remember Me"	"?	29	US: 58,000	Non-album song
2013	"Jingle Bells"	53	"?	"?	Christmas with Scotty McCreery
	"Let It Snow"	59	"?	"?

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2011	"I Love You This Big"	Shane Drake
	"The Trouble with Girls"	Roman White
2012	"Water Tower Town"	Todd Cassetty
	"Christmas Comin' Round Again"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Result
2011	Teen Choice Awards 2011	Choice Music: Breakout Artist
	American Country Awards	Artist of the Year: New Artist
2012	Academy of Country Music Awards	Best New Artist
	Billboard Music Awards	Top New Artist
		Top Country Album
	CMT Music Awards	USA Breakthrough Video of the Year
	MusicRow Awards	Breakthrough Artist
	Teen Choice Awards 2012	Choice Male Country
		Choice TV: Male Reality Star (American Idol)