Lauren Alaina (born Lauren Alaina Kristine Suddeth; November 8, 1994) is an American country singer from Rossville, Georgia. Alaina was the runner-up on the tenth season of American Idol. Her debut studio album, Wildflower was released on October 11, 2011.

Early life

Alaina was born on November 8, 1994, to Kristy and J.J. Suddeth of Rossville, Georgia. Her father works as a process technician in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Alaina is a strong Christian and often states that she lives for Jesus Christ.

Alaina was inspired to sing by her cousin, Holly Witherow, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Prior to Idol, Alaina worked at CiCi's Pizza. She attended Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where she was a cheerleader. Alaina performed at several Chattanooga-area venues and was the first winner of the WinniSTAR youth talent contest at Lake Winnepesaukah amusement park in 2009. In addition to performing, Alaina wrote several songs including "Leaving" and "Set Me Free."

American Idol

Overview

Alaina auditioned for the tenth season of American Idol in Nashville, Tennessee. From early on, Alaina was a judge favorite. After her audition, Idol judge Steven Tyler stated "We found the one." May 14, 2011 was proclaimed "Lauren Alaina Day" in her hometown of Rossville, Georgia. During the season finale, Alaina sang "Before He Cheats" with her idol, Carrie Underwood. On May 25, 2011, Alaina was declared the runner-up.

Performances/Results

Episode	Theme	Song choice	Original artist	Order #	Result
Audition	Auditioner's Choice	Solo "Like We Never Loved at All"	Faith Hill	N/A	Advanced
		Duet "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" with Steven Tyler	Aerosmith
Hollywood Round, Part 1	First Solo	"Unchained Melody"	Todd Duncan	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 2	Group Performance	"Some Kind of Wonderful"	Soul Brothers Six	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Round, Part 3	Second Solo	"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"	Aerosmith	N/A	Advanced
Las Vegas Round	Songs of The Beatles Group Performance	"Hello, Goodbye"	The Beatles	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood Round Final	Final Solo	"Unchained Melody"	Todd Duncan	N/A	Advanced
Top 24 (12 Women)	Personal Choice	"Turn On the Radio"	Reba McEntire	11	Advanced
Top 13	Your Personal Idol	"Any Man of Mine"	Shania Twain	1	Safe
Top 12	Year You Were Born	"I'm the Only One"	Melissa Etheridge	11	Safe
Top 11	Motown	"You Keep Me Hangin' On"	The Supremes	4	Safe
Top 11	Elton John	"Candle in the Wind"	Elton John	6	Safe
Top 9	Rock & Roll Hall of Fame	"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"	Aretha Franklin	4	Safe
Top 8	Songs from the Movies	"The Climb" " Hannah Montana: The Movie	Miley Cyrus	2	Safe
Top 7	Songs from the 21st Century	"Born to Fly"	Sara Evans	7	Safe
Top 6	Carole King	Solo "Where You Lead"	Carole King	2	Safe
		Duet "Up on the Roof" with Scotty McCreery	The Drifters	6
Top 5	Songs from Now and Then	"Flat on the Floor"	Katrina Elam	3	Bottom 2
		"Unchained Melody"	Todd Duncan	8
Top 4	Inspirational Songs	"Anyway"	Martina McBride	4	Safe
	Leiber & Stoller Songbook	"Trouble"	Elvis Presley	7
Top 3	Contestant's Choice	"Wild One"	Zaca Creek	2	Safe
	Jimmy Iovine's Choice	"If I Die Young"	The Band Perry	5
	Judges' Choice	"I Hope You Dance"	Lee Ann Womack	8
Finale	Favorite Idol Performance	"Flat on the Floor"	Katrina Elam	2	Runner-up
	Carrie Underwood's Choice	"Maybe It Was Memphis"	Pam Tillis	4
	Coronation Song	"Like My Mother Does"	Kristy Lee Cook	6

• ^ Due to the judges using their one save on Casey Abrams, the Top 11 remained intact for another week, when two contestants were eliminated.
• ^ When Ryan Seacrest announced the results for this particular night, Alaina was in the bottom 2, but was declared safe as Jacob Lusk was eliminated.

Music career

As the runner-up in the competition, Alaina has been signed to 19 Entertainment, Interscope and Mercury Nashville. Alaina released her single "Like My Mother Does" following the finale of Season 10 of American Idol. The song entered the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at forty-nine and the Hot 100 chart at twenty and sold 121,000 copies in its first week.

Following the conclusion of Season 10, Alaina appeared and performed on several talk shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Live with Regis and Kelly and The Today Show. On June 8, 2011, Alaina and McCreery presented at the CMT Music Awards. In addition, Alaina made her Grand Ole Opry debut on June 9 and performed with Martina McBride during her LP Field performance at the CMA Music Festival the following day. The following summer, Alaina 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.

2011-2012: Wildflower

On October 11, 2011, Alaina released her debut album Wildflower, which debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 69,000 copies the first week. The single "Georgia Peaches" was released on October 24, 2011. To promote her album, Alaina has made numerous television and radio appearances. On October 22, 2011, Alaina performed at Opry Goes Pink, a benefit concert at the Grand Ole Opry for Women for the Cure. On November 10, 2011, Alaina performed "My Grown Up Christmas List" on CMA Country Christmas. In addition, Alaina performed for the president in the PBS special In Performance at the White House. Furthermore, Alaina performed the National Anthem at the Thanksgiving Day game between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. On New Year's Eve, Alaina performed her single "Georgia Peaches" on American Country New Years Eve Live.

Alaina served as an opening act for Jason Aldean's My Kinda Party Tour through January 20, 2012 to May 19, 2012. In addition to the My Kinda Party Tour, Alaina opened for Sugarland's In the Hands of the Fans tour for a number of selected dates, beginning on April 5, 2012 and concluding on September 1, 2012. On March 8, 2012, Alaina performed "Georgia Peaches" on the Top 13 results show for the eleventh season of American Idol. On March 26, 2012, Alaina performed her single "Georgia Peaches" on the Today Show. On June 16, 2012, Alaina headlined the final show of Riverbend, a music festival in her hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

It has been announced that "Eighteen Inches" will be Alaina's third single off her album, Wildflower. The single was sent to country radio on July 16. In support of the song, Alaina began an 18-city tour. Proceeds from each show benefit various local charities, including the Special Olympics. The Inch-By-Inch tour kicked off on September 21, 2012 and wrapped up November 12, 2012.

2012-present: Second studio album

During a September 2012 interview, Alaina announced that she had been writing and going through a lot of songs for her next album. She said, "I've been going though tons and tons of songs, looking at different styles and things that fit me as an artist." On January 21, 2013, Alaina posted on her Twitter account that she had started recording for her sophomore album. A track called Breakdown is rumored to be included on Alaina's upcoming album. On May 7, 2013, Alaina released the first single off of her second album, "Barefoot and Buckwild", a song she took part in writing. She performed the song on American Idol on May 9th, 2013. Furthermore, Alaina was chosen to record the theme song for a new "Seaworld" attraction called "Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin."

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions			Sales
		US Country	US	CAN
Wildflower	Release date: October 11, 2011 Label: 19/Interscope/Mercury Nashville Formats: CD, digital download	2	5	22	US: 303,000

Compilation albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions			Sales
		US Country	US	US Indie
American Idol Season 10: Lauren Alaina	Release date: May 24, 2011 Label: 19 Formats: Digital download	9	42	6	US: 17,000

Extended plays

Title	Details	Peak chart positions		Sales
		US Country	US
American Idol Season 10 Highlights: Lauren Alaina	Release date: June 28, 2011 Label: 19/Interscope/Mercury Nashville Format: CD, digital download	6	24	US: 85,000

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Sales	Album
		US Country	US Country Airplay	US	CAN
2011	"Like My Mother Does"	36	"?	20	50	US: 398,000	Wildflower
	"Georgia Peaches"	28	"?	"?	"?	US: 189,000
2012	"Eighteen Inches"	37	34	"?	"?	US: 39,000
2013	"Barefoot and Buckwild"	34	56	"?	"?	US: 28,000	TBD
""?" denotes releases that did not chart

Other charted songs

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
		US
2011	"Dirt Road Prayer"A	118	Wildflower

• ^ADid not enter the Hot 100 but charted on Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles.

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
2011	"Like My Mother Does"	Shaun Silva
2012	"Georgia Peaches"	David McClister

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Result
2012	CMT Music Awards	USA Breakthrough Video of the Year
	Teen Choice Awards 2012	Choice Female Country
		Choice TV: Female Reality Star (American Idol)
	Inspirational Country Music Awards	Inspirational video "? "Like My Mother Does"
	American Country Awards	New Artist of the Year

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