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'American Idol' farewell: Where your favorite contestants are now

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'American Idol' farewell: Where your favorite contestants are now
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'American Idol' farewell: Where your favorite contestants are now

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Ally Brooke honors Selena Quintanilla with a special performance at Miss Universe 2019 pageant
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Ally Brooke honors Selena Quintanilla with a special performance at Miss Universe 2019 pageant
With American Idol coming to an end in mere hours, we take a look back at the 15 seasons of success it has enjoyed. From the show's first winner, Kelly Clarkson, to country superstar Carrie Underwood, fans have enjoyed seeing their favorite contestants blossom into the stars they are today. Here's a look back at the singing competition's most memorable participants from the past 14 years.

Photo: Getty Images
Kelly Clarkson, Season 1 Winner
Kelly will forever be remembered as the first winner of American Idol! The pop singer won in 2002 and went on to release a series of albums, which eventually led to her three Grammy awards.

Recently, she wrote a children's book, based on her travels with daughter River Rose. The Stronger star is currently pregnant with her second child.

Photo: Getty Images
Ruben Studdard, Season 2 Winner
Fun fact: This American Idol winner was actually born in Germany! Ruben has enjoyed a successful career, including a Grammy nomination for his performance of Superstar. In addition to his R&B career, the singer has done quite a few gospel performances.

Ruben appeared on the 15th season of The Biggest Loser as its first ever celebrity contestant. He finished the show with the release of his new album Unconditional Love.

Photo: Getty Images
Clay Aiken, Season 2 Runner-Up
Clay managed to impress audiences to make it to the final round of the show. Despite not winning, he went on to release four albums.

Since his American Idol days, Clay has kept busy with tours, TV appearances, Broadway - you name it! In 2014, he ran for Congress in North Carolina, but lost in the general election. Even so, he is kept busy by his son Parker.

Photo: Getty Images
Fantasia Burrino, Season 3 Winner
Fantasia was one of the youngest winners on American Idol at age 19. She went on to release quite a few albums, a number of which received Grammy nominations. She won a Grammy award for her single Bittersweet.

She released an album earlier this year that includes a collaboration with R. Kelly. She's planning on going on tour with Anthony Hamilton later this year.

Photo: Getty Images
Diana DeGarmo, Season 3 Runner-Up
This Alabama girl came in second place back in 2004. Following Idol Diana released her single Dreams in June of that year followed by her debut album Blue Skies in December. The country singer recorded a song for the Disney Film Ice Princess titled, Reaching for Heaven. Then in 2005, she made her theater debut performing in an American Musical Theatre of San Jose production of West Side Story. Diane made her official Broadway debut starring as Penny in Hairspray and in 2010 starred in Hair where she met her husband and fellow Idol alum Ace Young.

Photos: WireImage
Jennifer Hudson, Season 3 Contestant
Jennifer made it to the top seven contestants on season three back in 2005. The Los Angeles Times even claimed that she was one of the top contestants ever in American Idol history.

After her stint on the show, she went on to perform in the movie musical Dreamgirls. She also went on to release her self-titled album Jennifer Hudson, which won a Grammy award. Recently, she has been working on her acting chops, including a role in Spike Lee's Chi-Raq.

Photo: Getty Images
William Hung, Season 3 Contestant
At the time of his audition, William was a simple engineering student at UC Berkeley. He then went viral for his famous rendition of Ricky Martin's She Bangs. He ended up on a number of TV shows, including the one pictured here with Jay Leno.

Sadly, all heroes must retire. William chose to take a job in law enforcement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Photo: Getty Images
Carrie Underwood, Season 4 Winner
Touted as one of the most successful American Idol winners, Carrie has won over 40 awards for her musical talent. She was even recognized as the female vocalist of the generation by Rolling Stone.

As a country music singer, she has released quite a few albums. She released her album Storyteller at the end of last year. Recently, she absolutely slayed during a performance of her song Church Bells at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Photo: Getty Images
Constantine Maroulis, Season 4 Contestant
The rock singer, who hails from New Jersey, came in sixth place during the show's fourth season. After leaving the reality show in 2005, Constantine went on to star in the Broadway show Rock of Ages. In 2009, he took home the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as Drew in the rock production.

Photos: WireImage/FilmMagic
Taylor Hicks, Season 5 Winner
Taylor took home the crown in 2006. Since leaving the show, the raspy voiced artist has gone on to release hits like Do I Make You Proud in addition to landing a Las Vegas residency and joining the cast of Broadway musical Grease. The soulful singer is also the co-owner of Saw's Juke Joint restaurant in Birmingham, Alabama.

Photos: WireImage/Getty Images
Katharine McPhee, Season 5 Runner-Up
Many of her fans had the "McPheever," which essentially guaranteed her run to the final round. Though she didn't win, she has had an incredible career since. She released an album soon after, and even went on to become a Neutrogena brand ambassador.

In addition to her multiple album releases, Katharine had the chance to perform with the John Legend during the Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert.
She currently stars in the hit show Scorpion.

Photo: Getty Images
Kellie Pickler, Season 5 Contestant
Carrie Underwood wasn't the only country star to be born out of the reality singing competition show. Kellie left the show in 2006 after coming in sixth place. Later that year she released her debut album Small Town Girl. The North Carolina native has since won CMT Music Awards and even co-wrote a song with pop star Taylor Swift titled Best Days of Your Life. In 2013, Kellie participated on the hit ABC show Dancing with the Stars' sixteenth season, which she won with dance partner Derek Hough.
Currently, she is busy starring in 13-episode reality show I Love Kellie Pickler with husband Kyle Jacobs.

Photos: WireImage/Getty Images
Chris Daughtry, Season 5 Contestant
Chris was eliminated before he could make it to the final round, but that didn't bring him down. He formed a band soon after called Daughtry, after his own name.

The band has released four albums to date, and has won over 10 awards since its start.

Photo: Getty Images
Jordin Sparks, Season 6 Winner
Jordin is the youngest winner of American Idol —she was just 17 years old during the competition. Her first album Jordin Sparks received a platinum certification. Like other contestants, she went on to do a little acting stint on the children's show The Suite Life of Zack and Cody among other roles.

In 2014, after a hiatus, she dropped a mixtape named #ByeFelicia. She then released Right Here, Right Now early last year.

Photo: Getty Images
David Cook, Season 7 Winner
Originally, this winner only went to the show to support his younger brother, who did not make it very far. Then, he tried out himself and ended up winning the entire show. Following his time on the show, he broke a few Billboard records with his songs.

He's still making music, with his album Digital Vein that released at the end of 2015.

Photo: Getty Images
Kris Allen, Season 8 Winner
Kris Allen was declared the show's winner in 2009, beating out Adam Lambert. The Arkansas native's debut single became a hit that year. In 2013, Kris was seriously injured in a car accident that almost left him unable to play music. Since then, the guitar playing singer has recovered and released his fifth full-length album, Letting You In this March and is currently expecting his second child with wife Katy O'Connell, who is due later this year.

Photos: WireImage/Getty Images
Adam Lambert, Season 8 Runner-Up
Adam made headlines as the first openly gay winner on the show when he competed back in 2009. That year, he went on to win an award from Young Hollywood and the Teen Choice Awards. He became even more famous for his single Whataya Want From Me, which hit number 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 later that year.

He toured with rock band Queen, which saw great success. He is currently on tour promoting his latest album, The Original High.

Photo: Getty Images
Lee DeWyze, Season 9 Winner
Lee came out on top on the show's ninth season in 2010. Since winning the singing competition, the Illinois born singer has released five studio albums including Oil & Water this past February.

Photo: Getty Images
Tori Kelly, Season 9 Contestant
You might not remember Tori from the show — she barely made it to the Top 24 — but you'll definitely recognize her career. Her YouTube page blew up after her time on the show, and eventually she signed with Capitol Records and Scooter Braun (famous for representing artists such as Justin Bieber).

She performed at this year's Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Best New Artist award.

Photo: Getty Images
Scotty McCreery, Season 10 Winner
The North Carolina singer became the show's youngest male winner in 2011, winning at age 17. Since his season, Scotty has gone on to become a country superstar taking home the Country Music Award for Best New Artist in 2012 and releasing his third album See You Tonight in 2013.
In May, he will release his first book release Go Big or Go Home: The Journey Toward the Dream.

Photo: Getty Images
Phillip Phillips, Season 11 Winner
During the season, Phillip dealt with a kidney stone scare and considered quitting due to pain. Lucky for his fans, he didn't quit and ended up winning. His original song Home was actually used for the NBC women's gymnastics coverage.

He is currently happy married to wife Hannah. Their wedding ceremony took place last October.

Photo: Getty Images
Jessica Sanchez, Season 11 Runner-Up
The California beauty came in second place back in 2012. Fun Fact: Prior to hitting the Idol stage, Jessica competed on the first season of America's Got Talent. Post-AI, the singer debuted her album Me, You & the Music in 2013 and she even appeared on FOX's hit show Glee during the fourth season finale.

Photos: Fox via Getty Images/WireImage
Candice Glover, Season 12 Winner
The R&B singer had auditioned for the FOX show three times prior to taking home the crown in 2013. Since her win, Candice, who hails from South Carolina, released her debut album Music Speaks in 2014.

Photos: Getty Images
Caleb Johnson, Season 13 Winner
The 2014 champion debuted his album Testify less than three months after winning. Caleb hit the road on his first solo tour last year. He told Billboard, "I love being on the road. I love that lifestyle, traveling city to city, rocking out and moving on to the next place.”

Photos: FilmMagic/GC Images
Nick Fradiani, Season 14 Winner
Idol's most recent winner (2015) hails from Connecticut and has been playing the guitar since he was 10 years old. Prior to winning the singing competition he was the lead singer of pop/rock band Beach Avenue. Nick's debut single Beautiful Life was released last year and was co-written by Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba. The singer, who is signed to Big Machine Label Group said on his bio, "My favorite thing in the world is to perform original music live. When you write a song you’re proud of, and you know it’s good, there’s no better feeling. I am also looking forward to co-writing with people. I love collaborating, and the whole process of recording music is just so exciting to me."

Photo: WireImage/Getty Images
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