Only 16 and a junior in high school in Snellville, GA, Diana DeGarmo was the youngest finalist of American Idol 2004, but you wouldn't have guessed it from her powerful, confident voice. Growing up a show-biz kid surely helped. DeGarmo had been in Atlanta-based productions of Annie and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at a young age and performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics as part of the Coca-Cola's "Olympic Kids." She later became a cast member of Cartoon Network's Cartoon Gang and got her first taste of televised talent shows when she became a finalist on NBC's America's Most Talented Kid. Being too young to audition for the first season of American Idol frustrated DeGarmo to the point of boycotting it, but taking a peek midseason, the young hopeful became a massive Kelly Clarkson fan. She was still too young for season two, but studied it intensely, and became Miss Teen Georgia in the meantime.
Buy CD
Buy on iTunes