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Katharine McPhee: Biography

Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American pop singer, songwriter, actress, model, and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol in 2006, eventually finishing as the runner-up.

Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Top 200; it has sold 378,000 copies to date. The album's first single, "Over It", was a Pop Top 30 hit and was certified Gold in 2008. She also established an acting career, most notably co-starring in The House Bunny in 2008.

Her sophomore album, Unbroken was released on Verve Forecast Records on January 5, 2010 and debuted at #27 on the Billboard Top 200.

Personal Life

Born in Los Angeles, California, McPhee moved with her family to Sherman Oaks at age 12. McPhee has been singing since the age of two. Her mother, Patricia Burch McPhee (stage name Peisha Arten), a vocal coach and accomplished cabaret singer, recognized her daughter's musical talent and decided to train her. Her father, Daniel McPhee, is a television producer. McPhee has an older sister, Adriana. McPhee is of Irish, Scottish and German descent.

McPhee attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, where she performed in school plays and musicals. She graduated in 2002.

McPhee attended Boston Conservatory for three semesters, majoring in musical theater. She left the college on the advice of her manager and returned to Los Angeles to try out for television pilots.

McPhee struggled with eating disorders in the past. She told People Magazine that at age 13 she began starving herself and exercising compulsively, and she became bulimic at age 17. McPhee gained weight in college due to her binging. After seven years of illness, she finally entered a three-month rehab program after successfully passing her American Idol audition; her rehab stint ended just before the Idol semifinals started in February 2006. During her run on American Idol, she lost 30 pounds due to eating better as part of her treatment. Now, as she told Teen Vogue in May 2007, "I eat whatever I crave—I'm just really careful about portions."

McPhee and her sister appeared on debut of The Dr. Keith Ablow Show on September 18, 2006, to discuss her struggles with bulimia and her childhood fear of her father. On the show, McPhee stated that she was misdiagnosed with a learning disability during her middle school years but was finally correctly diagnosed with a vision problem that caused her to have trouble reading in class. McPhee claimed she was known as the "pretty, but stupid" girl in school because she had trouble reading.

On February 2, 2008, McPhee married Nick Cokas in a Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.

American Idol (2005-2006)

McPhee was persuaded by now-husband Nick Cokas and her parents to try out for American Idol. She auditioned in San Francisco, and sang "God Bless the Child", originally performed by Billie Holiday.

After the first round of Hollywood week, she sang "I'll Never Love This Way Again" by Dionne Warwick which earned favorable comments from the judges. During the second round, she performed in a group, singing "I Can't Help Myself" by The Four Tops, forgetting the words, but the judges decided to advance the entire group. During the third round, she sang a Capella of "My Funny Valentine" and advanced to the top 40. She was mad when fellow group member Crystal Stark didn't make the top 24. When she was told that she would be advancing, she kissed all three judges on the lips.

McPhee's run on American Idol led to the popular use of the term "McPheever", coined by Ralph Garman of Los Angeles radio station KROQ's morning show Kevin and Bean.

The inclusion of producer David Foster and singer Andrea Bocelli as guest mentors for Top 6 Week turned out to be a fortuitous introduction for McPhee, as she has worked on various music projects with both men post-Idol.
McPhee visited her former high school for her hometown celebration. Antonio Villaraigosa visited Notre Dame High School and proclaimed McPhee's visit as "Katharine McPhee Day."

Music Career: Post-Idol (2006)

On June 6, 2006, Sony BMG and 19 Entertainment announced that McPhee had signed to American Idol series creator Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Limited and Sony BMG's RCA Records.

McPhee performed at the J.C. Penney Jam: Concert for America's Kids in June 2006 (David Foster was the music director), soloing with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and performing a duet with Andrea Bocelli on "Somos Novios". The concert was telecast on CBS August 22, 2006 and J.C. Penney sold an exclusive CD/DVD of the concert.

McPhee's Idol single, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny" was released on June 27, 2006 by RCA Records. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "My Destiny" peaked at #60. Thirty-two weeks after its release, Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny had climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales charts. It was the 2nd highest best-selling single of 2006 after Taylor Hicks's "Do I Make You Proud". "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/My Destiny" continued to chart for more than 58 weeks.

In July, McPhee missed the first 3 weeks of the American Idol Tour due to laryngitis and severe bronchitis. She joined the tour beginning with the July 28 show in Washington, D.C., singing only 2 songs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" instead of the usual 4 on doctor's orders to conserve her voice. At the August 1 concert in Charlotte, N.C., McPhee suffered a hairline fracture of her foot when she tripped backstage and was fitted with a walking boot cast. Once she recovered from the foot injury, she added "Think" to her concert set.

McPhee recorded a duet with Andrea Bocelli on "Can't Help Falling In Love" for his Under the Desert Sky album, which was released as a CD/DVD package on November 7, 2006.

Music Career: Self-Titled Debut Album (2007-2008)

McPhee's self-titled debut album, Katharine McPhee was released on January 30, 2007 and sold 116,000 copies its first week, debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.

The first single from the album was "Over It", which was officially released on the same day as the album and peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Love Story", was released on May 22, 2007, but failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.

During the 2007 Christmas holiday season, McPhee released a Christmas single "O Come All Ye Faithful".
On January 11, 2008, it was reported by Billboard.com that McPhee had been released from her contract with RCA Records, through speculation that the label was dissatisfied with lack of overall sales of her debut album. A spokesperson for the label confirmed this in a statement reading: "Katharine McPhee has moved on to support her other entertainment activities. She is going to record her next album on her own."

McPhee appeared on Idol judge Randy Jackson's album Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1, which was released on March 11, 2008. McPhee recorded a duet of "Real Love" with fellow American Idol 5 contestant Elliott Yamin. "Real Love" was released as a second single due to the high popularity of the song on Itunes.
On March 12, 2008, McPhee returned to the American Idol stage during the Top 12 results night of the seventh season of the competition. She performed the Beatles song "Something", with producer David Foster, on piano. After the performance, Foster indicated that he and McPhee were collaborating on her second studio album (though it ended up that he was not part of the finished product).

McPhee took part in the David Foster tribute concert Hit Man: David Foster & Friends, which was filmed by PBS, in May 2008.[18] She soloed on "Somewhere" and performed a duet of "The Prayer" with Andrea Bocelli. A CD/DVD of the concert was released in November 2008. The show was shown several times on PBS starting in December 2008 under their "Great Performances" title.

David Foster recorded a new song entitled, "I Will Be There With You" for Japan Airlines (JAL), with McPhee on vocals. Starting about June, 2008, it was used to promote the introduction of new aircraft to JAL's US flights.

On July 16, 2008, McPhee released a cover of the song "I Know What Boys Like", featuring the other cast members of the movie The House Bunny.

McPhee recorded a cover of the song "Connected" for the Mattel movie Barbie and the Diamond Castle. McPhee's version of the song was produced by Room For Two and a music video was also recorded to be featured on the movie's DVD. The video and song are available on the movie's website. The soundtrack CD and movie DVD and Blu-ray were released for sale in September 2008.

McPhee took part in the concert Chris Botti: Live In Boston, which was filmed by PBS, in September 2008. She sang "I've Got You Under My Skin" accompanied by Chris Botti on trumpet. The concert was shown several times on PBS starting in January 2009. The CD/DVD and Blu-ray were released March 31, 2009.

McPhee recorded the song "Let Your Heart Sing" for the soundtrack CD of the Disney movie Tinker Bell. The movie DVD and the soundtrack CD were released in October 2008.

Music Career: Sophomore Album 'Unbroken' (2009 - 2010)

It was announced on January 27, 2009 that McPhee signed a new record deal with Verve Forecast Records (part of the Verve Music Group under Universal Music Group). "The album she is working on will show many new sides to her talents as an interpreter and a songwriter, and show everyone just how special she is," Verve Music Group president/CEO Bruce Resnikoff says.

For her second effort, McPhee worked with producer John Alagia. The BMI song repertoire indicates that she worked with a large range of writers including the likes of Richard Marx, Troy Verges, Kara DioGuardi, Jason Reeves, and Barry Dean.

The first single from the album, "Had It All" was released to McPhee's myspace page and made available for purchase on iTunes on August 25, 2009. The single was released to AC and Hot AC radio on September 21. The song is also a track on the Now That's What I Call Music, Vol 32 compilation CD that was released November 3, 2009.

A Christmas single "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was released November 17, 2009 for purchase on iTunes and to AC radio.

McPhee's second album Unbroken was released January 5, 2010 and debuted at #27 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, selling 15,000 copies its first week.

Acting Career

McPhee was cast (during the time she had dropped out of college and was auditioning in Los Angeles) in a mall-based MTV soap opera pilot entitled You Are Here, playing the older sister of a more popular younger sister. MTV never aired the pilot and didn't pick up the series.

McPhee had a small role as "Paramount Girl" in the 2007 musical film Crazy, based on the life of Hank Garland. McPhee filmed the role in early 2005, before she auditioned for American Idol.
In early 2007, McPhee guest-starred in the web series, lonelygirl15 as an unnamed character in the episode "Truth Or Dare".

McPhee made a cameo appearance as herself on the ABC show Ugly Betty in the episode "I'm Coming Out". The episode was broadcast Feb 1, 2007.

McPhee made her studio acting debut in the comedy The House Bunny (formerly known as I Know What Boys Like), co-starring as one of the few members of a misfit sorority. The movie starred Anna Faris as a playboy bunny who took the girls under her wing. It was directed by Fred Wolf for Columbia Pictures and Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions. The film was released in August 2008 and co-starred Rumer Willis, Emma Stone, Colin Hanks, and Tyson Ritter.

In 2009, McPhee landed a lead role in a romantic-comedy, tentatively titled You May Not Kiss the Bride. The budget was set at $6 million. The movie filmed for 5 weeks in March and April 2009 in Oahu, Hawaii. McPhee played the role of Masha, alongside Dave Annable. The film is scheduled to be released sometime in 2010.

McPhee guest starred on the CBS show CSI: NY in the episode "Prey" as a singer and stalker victim who murdered her stalker. The episode was broadcast April 8, 2009.

McPhee joined forces with fellow actresses Alyson Hannigan, Jaime King, Minka Kelly and Emily Deschanel in a video slumber party made available in October 2009 and featured on FunnyorDie.com and other Internet platforms in a comedic take to promote regular breast cancer screenings for the organization Stand Up To Cancer.

McPhee will guest star in an episode of the NBC comedy Community as Chevy Chase's stepdaughter and potential love interest for Joel McHale's character in the series' first post-Olympics episode.

Musical Theater

In March 2005, McPhee starred as Annie Oakley in a Los Angeles-based production of the musical "Annie Get Your Gun". McPhee was nominated for an L.A. Stage Ovation Award in the category of "Lead Actress in a Musical".

In July 2005, McPhee co-starred as Anna Muir in a Los Angeles-based production of a musical version of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir".

Major Product Endorsements

McPhee signed a two-year endorsement deal in 2006 with Sexy Hair Concepts to become their first celebrity spokesperson for their hair-care product line.

In 2008, McPhee signed a two-year endorsement deal with Neutrogena to become the new spokesperson for their anti-acne skin-care product line, SkinID. In March 2008, she filmed her first commercial, which began airing on television in May 2008 and on Neutrogena's skinid.com website.

Philanthropy

In 2006, McPhee founded a charity called McPhee Outreach. The purpose of the charity is to team up with other foundations or organizations and help in any way possible.

The foundation teamed up with The Lollipop Theater Network to provide music outreach (called "Rhythm of Hope") to sick children in Southern California hospitals.

McPhee Outreach teamed up with Global Compassion Services to build a preschool in the poor West African nation of Burkina Faso to help combat that nation's high illiteracy rate.

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