Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
"There’s something about home. There’s something about where you are from that shapes you and helps define you. I grew up in Checotah and always wanted to sing. If you had asked me when I was 5 or 10 years old, “What are you going to be when you grow up?” I would have said that I’m going to be a famous country music singer. And as a child, I think the only reason in my head that something that big, that grand, and that amazing was possible was because I had seen other people do it who were from places just like where I grew up."
Biography
Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media global superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, film, and design. A multiple GRAMMY® Award winner, she has sold millions of records worldwide, recorded over two dozen #1 singles, many of which she co-wrote, and amassed over 100 major honors. Underwood has toured extensively throughout the years and has visited fans around the world, while also donating a portion of the proceeds to various deserving charities. She founded her own charity in 2009, the C.A.T.S. (Checotah Animal, Town, and School) Foundation, which supports a variety of needs in her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma. She not only has taken the entertainment industry by storm, but she’s also an accomplished business woman and is the lead designer for her fitness apparel line, CALIA by Carrie Underwood. She has been a member of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry since 2008.
Fun fact
A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Underwood was the first female artist to win Entertainer of the Year twice at the Academy of Country Music Awards.
Oklahoma connections
Underwood was born in Muskogee, raised in Checotah, and graduated from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.