Childhood and personal life
Kris Allen was born in Jacksonville, Arkansas to Kimberly (née Wood) and Neil Allen. He is the elder of two sons; his younger brother, Daniel, is a college cheerleading coach. Allen is a Christian and served as assistant music director at the non-denominational New Life Church in both Conway, Arkansas and Little Rock, Arkansas. Allen has participated in missionary work around the world, including in Burma, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, Spain and Thailand.

Allen's interest in music began very early. He began playing the viola in elementary school and went on to play the instrument in the Mills University Studies High School orchestra, eventually winning a spot in the Arkansas all-state orchestra.[ Additionally, he taught himself to play the guitar at age 13, and also plays the piano and the ukulele.[ His musical influences, as stated in his Idol confessionals, include the Beatles, Jamie Cullum, Jason Mraz, John Mayer and Michael Jackson.

After high school, Allen moved to Conway, Arkansas to attend the University of Central Arkansas, where he was a business major and a member of Chi Alpha. He soon dropped out to pursue music professionally, performing in local bars and working as a shoe salesman to make ends meet. After marrying his girlfriend of seven years, Katherine "Katy" O'Connell, on September 26, 2008, Allen planned on going back to college to finish his degree and "get a real job." He has described his decision to audition for American Idol as a "last hurrah" before giving up his pursuit of a music career.
Career
Brand New Shoes In 2007, Allen wrote and self-produced an album entitled Brand New Shoes with college friends and bandmates Michael Holmes (drums) and Chase Erwin (bass). 600 copies were given to friends and family. Songs from the album were widely distributed online during his time on Idol.

Track listing

1. "Brand New Shoes" - 5:17
2. "Beautiful Moon" - 3:19
3. "I Was Played" - 3:45
4. "Be My Lady" - 4:31
5. "Running" - 4:09
6. "Wipe It Away" - 5:05
7. "Lovely" - 5:04
8. "Wastin' Time" - 3:20
9. "On Our Way" - 4:09
10. "Real World" - 3:41
11. "Land of Smiles" - 3:57

Musicians

1. Kris Allen - Vocals / Guitar / Piano
2. Michael Holmes - Drums
3. Chase Erwin - Bass Guitar
American Idol
Allen auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in Louisville, Kentucky with his brother Daniel, who did not make it to Hollywood. In the early stages of the season, he was among the finalists (along with Allison Iraheta) that received the least amount of screen time. Only several seconds of his first audition (and neither of his Hollywood Week solo performances) were shown, although his group performance with White Chocolate (including fellow finalist Matt Giraud) was aired in its entirety. The judges also asked him to participate in an un-aired sing-off with another contestant before they allowed him to enter the semifinals round.

Throughout the competition, Allen received many compliments for his folk-inspired interpretations of modern pop songs. He played several instruments during his performances, including the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the keyboard, and the piano. His performance of "To Make You Feel My Love" as part of the Top 11 earned praise from the judges, with Simon Cowell commenting, "I am genuinely beginning to think you have a shot of doing well in this competition." In the finals, he performed his own arrangement of "Ain't No Sunshine" on a keyboard, with a few musicians on stage, which earned praise from the judges. Cowell lauded it as Allen's "best performance so far."

On the first Top 7 night, Allen chose to sing the Oscar-winning song from the indie film Once. While Randy Jackson described it as "pitchy from note one", Kara DioGuardi declared it "one of your best moments ever." Due to time constraints, Paula Abdul and Cowell did not comment, but on the following night's results show, Cowell stated "Kris, you were brilliant." Allen subsequently received a signed record and other gifts from the original artists, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. On the second Top 7 show, Allen brought back the guitar for the fourth time and performed an original, acoustic version of "She Works Hard for the Money", complete with bongo drums and the band on stage. This earned praise from all four judges, with Abdul remarking "There aren’t many men who are willing to shop in the women’s department. You shopped and found a perfect fit." For his second Top 3 performance, Allen impressed the judges with an acoustic arrangement of Kanye West's "Heartless", prompting Jackson to state that he preferred it to West's original and The Fray's cover version. Cowell agreed and said, "I had written you out of the competition but that has changed after that performance." This performance helped Kris move on to the finals and win.

After being voted into the Top 3, Allen returned home to Arkansas and his hometown to film the material for the next two American Idol episodes. Allen's homecoming parade was greeted by a crowd estimated to be greater than 20,000. Allen performed at three concerts in Little Rock and Conway, playing many of his popular songs during the competition, including "Man in the Mirror", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Falling Slowly" and "She Works Hard for the Money" at the venues, as well as "Come Together" at the studio of local Fox affiliate KLRT-TV. He accompanied himself on all of these songs with his guitar. During the final performance show, Allen performed a reprise of "Ain't No Sunshine", the Producers' Choice of "What's Goin' On" and the coronation song, "No Boundaries". During the final results show, he performed a duet with Keith Urban, singing Urban's single "Kiss a Girl", as well as a series of medleys with his fellow Season 8 contestants. Before the results were announced, Allen performed "We Are the Champions" with eventual runner-up Adam Lambert and Brian May of Queen.

On May 20, 2009, Kris Allen was declared the winner of the eighth season of American Idol, becoming the first married contestant to claim the title, as well as the sixth winner from the Southern United States (only Jordin Sparks, raised in Glendale, Arizona and David Cook, from Blue Springs, Missouri were from outside the South). Nearly 100 million votes were cast during the finale, setting a new world record for a televised singing competition. Unlike the previous season, the winning margin was undisclosed. Numerous sources, including the Associated Press, claimed that the margin "wasn't even close". Allen has admitted that the alleged disparity in votes was a "total surprise" to him.

Certain commentators labeled the win as an "upset" since runner-up Adam Lambert had received a significant amount of media attention throughout the season and was widely perceived to be the show's front-runner. His victory was seen as highly controversial as viewers and the media speculated about the details of the result. However, during the Top 3 results show, host Ryan Seacrest had revealed that the margin between Allen and Lambert was less than a million votes. Fox and AT&T have stated that they "stand by the outcome" and are "absolutely certain" that "Kris Allen is the American Idol".

Post-Idol
After Allen's victory, he has been on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Access Hollywood, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Early Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Today Show, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's Fox News show, Huckabee, on which Allen sang a cover of The Beatles' song "Yesterday" with Huckabee accompanying him on bass guitar. He was also a guest on Larry King Live (guest hosted by Ryan Seacrest) along with runner-up Adam Lambert, judge Paula Abdul, and the rest of the top ten finalists. His debut single, "No Boundaries", was released on May 20, 2009 on iTunes alongside Lambert's version. Allen's version of the song debuted at #11 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart for the week of May 29, 2009.

Allen's post-show tour also included a trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort, where a parade was held in his honor. During his time at Disney, he visited The American Idol Experience, where he announced the winners of the day's competition. Shortly afterward, Allen returned to his hometown of Conway, Arkansas for the first time following the conclusion of the competition.

On June 5, 2009, Allen performed at the Walmart Annual Shareholders' Meeting 2009, and participated in a brief skit with host Ben Stiller. In addition to renditions of "No Boundaries" and "Heartless", Allen sang a duet with Motown legend Smokey Robinson on The Temptations classic "Get Ready". On June 7, 2009, Allen performed the National Anthem at Game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals to a packed house including Adam Levine, Jack Nicholson, Rihanna, Paula Abdul and Leonardo DiCaprio. Following the performance, which was described as "executed to perfection," the announcement was made that Allen had signed a record deal with Jive Records (along with fellow finalist Allison Iraheta). His major label debut is now scheduled for a Fall 2009 release. In the announcement, Allen stated about his upcoming album, "Everyone's been asking me what it's going to sound like. It will be very similar to what you heard from me on the show -- definitely in the pop/rock genre. I can't wait to get started!"

Kris is rumored to be working with Claude Kelly, David Hodges, Salaam Remi and Joe King of The Fray on his debut album.

Source: Wikipedia