Kellie Pickler
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Kellie Pickler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother, Cynthia Morton, gave birth to her at age 18 and abandoned Kellie when she was two years old, and her father, Clyde "Bo" Pickler, Jr., described by Kellie as having had a lifetime problem with drugs and alcohol, served a 3 year 9 month prison sentence at Florida State Prison for aggravated assault and battery stemming from a 2003 stabbing incident. He was released on May 6, 2006 a week after his daughter was eliminated from American Idol.

Kellie Pickler later moved to Albemarle, North Carolina, where she lived with her grandfather, Clyde Pickler Sr., and her grandmother Faye Pickler until her grandmother's death in January 2002. She continued to live with her grandfather and her younger brother Eric until she became a contestant on Idol. She graduated in the class of 2004 from North Stanly High School in New London, NC, though she was an average C student and frequently failed tests. She sang On The Side of Angels by LeAnn Rimes at her graduation commencement from North Stanly in 2004. She has worked as a waitress at a Sonic Drive In franchise. As an active participant in the Miss America circuit, Kellie Pickler won the "Miss Stanly County" pageant at age 17 and subsequently competed for Miss North Carolina 2004. In 2005, she made an appearance on WSOC-TV's Gimme the Mike! contest and took second place.  She attended Stanly Community College, studying cosmetology.

The 19-year-old Kellie Pickler auditioned for American Idol in the fall of 2005 in Greensboro, North Carolina. She sang both Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and Martina McBride's "A Broken Wing". The judges unanimously sent her to Hollywood. Kellie Pickler advanced through the semi-finalist rounds in February and March, reaching the Top 12 On March 9.

Kellie Pickler gained attention on the show by saying (for example) that she had never performed before real audiences, pronouncing "salmon" as "sal-mon", "calamari" as "cali-mar-y", and confusing "minx" with "mink." She also amused many people with her false eyelash incident, saying that it felt as if there were "tarantulas on her eyes". She was compared to Jessica Simpson in a March 27 story in US Weekly magazine entitled "Kellie: The Next Jessica Simpson", due to her "sweet southern style and ditzy demeanor." Later in a J-14 article, she responded to the comparison by saying "Vocally, Jessica's great, and she's beautiful." Various Internet blogs alleged that Kellie Pickler was merely putting on an act in order to win votes. Host Ryan Seacrest asked Kellie Pickler about the allegations during the April 4 broadcast, and she denied the claims. On April 19, Kellie Pickler and contestant Taylor Hicks became the only contestants among the rest of the Top 6 to never be in the bottom 3. That changed on April 26 when she was in the bottom 2 and then eliminated. Due to time constraints, her exit performance was not aired on the show, which happened to be the first time this occurred in American Idol history. Her exit performance was later shown when she appeared on Extra.

She returned in the finale to sing several songs with the other finalists; she was also featured in a pre-taped segment called "Puck 'n Pickler", in which she was introduced to some unusual food by chef Wolfgang Puck for comic effect.

Grabow Entertainment has a proven history since 1983 in the corporate and private entertainment industry, and acts as an entertainment contractor and producer of private and corporate events. We do not claim or represent ourselves as the exclusive agent for Kellie Pickler or Kellie Pickler management or any artist included on our roster. We concentrate our efforts on serious inquiries of talent buyers. We are unable to answer Kellie Pickler fan club information requests, fan email, public relations contacts or questions , or personal requests for Kellie Pickler contact information for artists or speakers.