Thankfully, Kelly Clarkson's childhood dream to be a marine biologist did not come true, and instead, she became a household name when her soulful voice captured the hearts and minds of millions when she was voted the American Idol in September of 2002.

The twenty-year-old from Texas performed live every week for ten weeks to an audience of 25 million on one of America's most successful TV show's ever. Besides the fact that Clarkson never had a professional singing lesson, she received 57% of the vote in the final head to head. In fact, her singing voice was to her, such a natural and normal part of her life, it didn't strike her that she had something so special. The enormity and beauty of her voice was recognized quite by accident.

At 13 years old, a late bloomer by choral standards, Kelly was singing to herself in the corridor at Pauline Hughes Middle School in Burleson, Texas, when a teacher asked her to consider joining the choir. "Nobody really realized I had a talent until I got in there. My teacher really pushed me since I was behind everyone else who had been doing it since 4th grade. From there on, I had a niche."

Her classical training through the choir was, as she describes it, "fundamental to me being able to use my voice and adapt it to different styles of music". She developed quickly and before long was wooing audiences in state and regional competitions, whilst earning a living as a waitress, pharmacy assistant, movie theatre and even at the zoo!

It was a strange twist of fate that really put Kelly on the path to music. Having moved to Los Angeles after graduation she began sending out her demo tape trying to get into the music industry. This, however, came to an abrupt end when her apartment burned down leaving her nearly destitute. The young singer headed on a 24-hour drive home with nothing.

It was her best friend Jessica who was determined for Kelly not to give up and suggested she try out for American Idol. Kelly knew nothing about it, "I went and tried out for fun and here I am!"

With her own idols ranging from Bette Midler and Reba McIntyre to Gwen Stefani and Aerosmith, it's not surprising her voice can turn to such a wide variation of styles. Signed to 19 Entertainment and RCA, her album will debut in 2003, and with her debut single "A Moment Like This/Before Your Love" double A-side breaking two world records in its first week alone, Kelly Clarkson is firmly on the music map and is set to shake up the industry.

Her first single smashed straight into number one in the Billboard charts in its first week and she hasn't looked back since. The final 10 contestants from the show re-united for the "American Idol Tour", a 30 date, 7 week Arena tour which took them from Seattle to New York playing to over 200,000 fans.

Kelly has already started to bare her soul on her album which will showcase the diversity of her voice in addition to her collaborations with many of today's biggest writers including Rhett Lawrence and Walter A. Kelly has been concentrating on edgy, R&B flavored tracks and yet would love to move into country or even do Broadway one day. "Maybe something that I write or sing will touch someone and then it's all worth it. Why should you choose a genre? I love it all!"

And as if the music wasn't enough, Simon Fuller struck a 15 million dollar movie feature deal with Fox allowing Kelly to showcase her acting and singing talents with American Idol runner up Justin Guarini. In January 2003, Kelly will star in her very own movie, "From Justin to Kelly" for release in April 2003. "This is an amazing opportunity," she said. "One day I would like to work behind the cameras too producing my own work."

"I'm not materialistic, but I am ambitious. I'd love to break globally and can't wait to go to England. There is so much ahead of me and I'm really grateful for that. It all seems to be happening so quickly that it's hard to stop and think. For now, I'm just glad to be in this position and to be able to have a job where I use my singing voice every day. I knew when I watched Jaws that marine biology just wasn't for me!"