Season 1 Of American Idol Premiered On June 11, 2002
Hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkelman, American Idol hit TV screens in the summer of 2002, creating a singing competition show that America had never seen before. Judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul were selected as judges and they traveled all over American trying to find the very first American Idol.
Thankfully, they stopped in Dallas, Texas, Kelly Clarkson’s hometown. She had tried to live in LA and start her music career, but odd jobs like being a cocktail waitress at a comedy club, and an apartment fire sent her back to Texas.
She performed Etta James’ “At Last” and Madonna’s “”Express Yourself” at her auditions, which won over the judges with her incredible voice. Her personality also got to shine through when she jokingly switched places with Jackson and had him audition with her in the judges’ seat.
Shockingly, Clarkson audition wasn’t actually aired and remains the only winner of the show whose audition wasn’t in the original broadcast. This may have been because of the quick turnaround time, seeing as the Dallas auditions took place May 5–7, 2002, and the show premiered on television just one month later.
Luckily, her full audition is up on YouTube for us all to watch all these years later.
Throughout the competition, Clarkson continued to wow the audience with her covers of “Respect,” “You’re All I Need To Get By,” “(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman,” “It’s Raining Men,” “I Surrender,” and more.
Kelly Clarkson was crown the winner of Season One on September 4, 2002, beating runner-up Justin Guarini, she sang her debut single “A Moment Like This.”
As we all know, American Idol catapulted Clarkson to superstardom with countless hits, over 82 million albums sold, her own talk show, three Grammy Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, four American Music Awards, eight Daytime Emmy Awards, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kelly Clarkson Commemorates The 23rd Anniversary Of Her American Idol Win
On Thursday (September 4), Clarkson took to social media to celebrate the anniversary of her winning the first season of American Idol.
“To everyone that took time 23 years ago to call in and vote for me, thank you…Winning American Idol changed my life and I will be forever grateful for all of you that have supported me for so many years,” she wrote alongside a photo of her winning moment. “It is a gift to find your purpose and passion, and to be able to make a living doing it is the cherry on top. Thank you, always.”
Many fans, even famous ones, commented, telling her how much they love her and how they inspired them to be singers. It’s truly incredible what Clarkson did and even though there have been stars to come from American Idol, there have been none like Kelly.
Demi Lovato: “we love u kelly (and yes i voted every week for u!) thank u for being my first idol. ur amazing”
Jordin Sparks: “THE OG!! I remember watching you win and saying to my parents, ‘I want to do that!’ Thank you for inspiring me and so many countless others!”
Julia Michaels: “I voted for you…love you Kelly”
The Social Media Post Also Marks Kelly’s First Since Her Ex-Husband Passed Away
On August 6, Clarkson postponed every show she had scheduled for the entire month, revealing that her ex-husband and father of her kids, Brandon Blackstock, had been sick and she needed to be “fully present” for River and Remy.
Sadly, he passed away the next morning following a brave years-long battle with cancer.
Due to his passing, she also dropped out of a Texas Flood benefit concert and missed a few tapings of The Voice, but she recently was spotted at the airport returning to New York, where she lives and films her daytime talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Her show just announced that it will return on on Monday, September 29, with production starting on September 8.
We will continue praying for Clarkson and her children, as well as the rest of Blackstock’s family including his brother Shelby, his daughter Savannah, his son Seth, and his stepmom Reba McEntire.