Katharine McPhee Biography

Katharine McPhee (born March 25, 1984 in Sherman Oaks, California) is an American singer and musical theatre actress, who is a finalist in the fifth season of American Idol.

Biography

Katharine McPhee has been singing her entire life since the age of two. Her mother, Peisha McPhee, a vocal coach and accomplished cabaret singer, recognized a talent for music in her daughter and started training her. Her father, Daniel McPhee, is a producer who has worked on numerous television series and other projects. Katharine graduated from Notre Dame High School in 2002. She then attended the Boston Conservatory of Music. In Los Angeles, she performed in a musical theatre production of Annie Get Your Gun.

Katharine McPhee has a sister, named Adrianna and lists Whitney Houston and Brian McKnight as her favorite artists.

During her initial audition for American Idol in San Francisco, she sang "God Bless the Child". Judge Randy Jackson said she was the best voice he had yet heard that season, judge Paula Abdul praised her looks, and judge Simon Cowell said she was amazing and "current". However, McPhee's mother had gone with Katharine to the audition, and Cowell made a comment about the possibility that the elder McPhee was a stage mother.

In the final cut-down show for the Top 24, Katharine McPhee was the first to be put through and, in excitement, kissed all three judges on the lips. She began crying both when she passed her initial audition and when she made it into the Top 24.

Katharine McPhee Biography

On May 24, 2006, Katharine McPhee came in second place to Taylor Hicks on American Idol.