Carly Smithson (born September 12, 1983 as Carly Sarah
Hennessy) is an Irish soul/pop rock singer-songwriter and actress who was the
sixth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. In 2001, Smithson
released her first studio album for MCA Records called Ultimate High. Smithson
was dropped from the record label in 2002. After being introduced to record
producer Ben Moody in early 2009, plans for Smithson's post-Idol solo album
were scrapped and instead she is now the lead singer of the gothic metal band
We Are the Fallen.
Smithson was born in Dublin, Ireland, to her parents Marie
Murray and Luke Hennessy. After living 6 months in Dublin, Smithson and her
parents moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. She lived there until they moved
back to Dublin when she was 4 years old. Smithson began singing around the age
of 4 and has also had some experience with acting. She was featured in
advertisements for Denny's Sausage for three years, starting at the age of
five. In 1990, Smithson played Young Marianne in Fools of Fortune. Two years
later, in 1992, she joined the cast of Les Misérables and starred as Little
Cosette in Ireland. When she was 10 years old, she released an independent CD
titled Carly's Christmas Album which was released in the United Kingdom. When
Smithson was 14, her parents divorced. A year later, in 1999, she and her
father moved to the United States in order for Smithson to pursue a career in
music. Smithson is a high school dropout.
After Smithson's record deal with MCA Records dissolved, she
decided to take a break from music. She met her husband Todd Smithson, a tattoo
artist, in San Diego. They lived in Marietta, Georgia, for a few years, where
Smithson worked at an Irish bar called Fado. In a coincidental connection,
Michael Johns (an American Idol season 7 finalist) performed weekly at Fado,
under his real name Michael Lee. In 2005, Smithson and her husband moved to San
Diego, where they currently reside. Smithson has an older half-brother named
Nik and a younger sister named Shannon. Smithson also works at Nothing Sacred,
a tattoo shop in San Diego owned by her husband. Smithson has nine tattoos.
During the time that she was on Idol, reports claimed that her unfinished
sleeve tattoo on her right arm seemed to be a drawing of Amy Winehouse.
However, in a interview after her elimination, Smithson clarified that it is a
drawing of a Japanese Geisha, based on a painting that she owns.
Ultimate High (1999–2001)
Before the marriage to her husband Todd Smithson, Smithson
(as Carly Hennessy) released an album for MCA Records called Ultimate High in
2001. Despite MCA Records spending over $2 million on the production and promotion
of Smithson's debut album, it sold only 300 copies in its first three months. Smithson has stated that the uptempo party
record did not have the opportunity to find an audience, due to it being
released so soon after the events of 9/11, as well as the record company's
untimely merger with a parent company. Though some established artists like
Sheryl Crow survived the merger, yet-to-be-released artists did not. In the
album, Smithson covered Danielle Brisebois' "Just Missed the Train".
Kelly Clarkson covered the same song on her 2003 album, Thankful. After
American Idol, Ultimate High was quietly reissued by Universal Music, both to
physical and online music retailers. For a brief period after Smithson's
elimination, the album peaked in the Top 10 of Amazon's Top Selling Digital
Albums, as well as being featured on their MP3 homepage.
American Idol
Season 5
Smithson auditioned in Las Vegas, Nevada for the fifth
season of American Idol and was unanimously accepted by the judges. However,
she was later disqualified because the paperwork for her work visa was delayed.
Season 7
In 2007, Smithson auditioned again for the seventh season of
American Idol making it to Hollywood, but this time with the proper paperwork.
She advanced with a unanimous vote after singing "I'm Every Woman".
Simon Cowell noted that he remembered her from her season 5 audition. In
Hollywood, she sang Heart's "Alone" for her audition and once again
received a unanimous praise from the judges. Smithson was one of the first
foreign contestants to make the show's Top 12 with the other one being Michael
Johns who was an Australian. Smithson was eliminated on April 23, 2008. Her
final song performance was "Superstar" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Jesus Christ Superstar. The performance was considered to be one of her best by
the judges. The day before she was eliminated Cowell stated, "I thought
that was the best performance of the night so far.", prompting Smithson to
pull out a T-shirt sent to her by her fans with a sign on it that said
"Simon Loves Me (this week)". After it was announced that she was
eliminated, Cowell said: "I apologize for giving you a compliment last
night—kiss of death, but let me tell you, Carly, you can leave with your head
held high".
American Idol Controversy
Shortly after it was announced that Smithson had made the
show's Top 24, articles appeared in the mainstream press questioning her
selection because of her previous record deal. Randy Jackson also worked for
MCA during the same time that Smithson was signed. Despite this, she still
remained on the show. After her elimination, Smithson briefly acknowledged the
situation in interviews. On The Ellen Degeneres Show, she stated that she felt
that she was "kind of singled out" and she added that "The media
kind of does what they do and I got a lot of weird and negative press very
early on but, you know, I just kind of held my head high and it kind of got
forgotten about as the show went on." She adds "You know, a lot of
the people had professional careers that were involved and I actually hadn't
really had lots of stage experience and a lot of the other people had and I
think that's more of the experience that you really need on that show."
Smithson's elimination came as a surprise to viewers as she was considered one
of the front-runners on the show. This prompted an unprecedented reaction, with
bloggers questioning the popular program's credibility amidst reports from fans
of busy signals throughout the voting period. There were renewed claims of "fixing" and calls for the
show to publish precise voting totals, resulting in a press release credited to
Fox and show producers: "The network and producers will not disclose
voting tallies for the competition, as the release of such information would
only serve to create additional rumor and speculation", conflicting with
executive producer Ken Warwick's claim that they were open to scrutiny, quoted
"No one is saying you can't look at them."
Post-Idol
After she was eliminated from American Idol, Smithson
appeared on talk shows, including Live with Regis and Kelly, The Tonight Show
with Jay Leno, Access Hollywood, Today and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Smithson completed the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008, which
ran from July 1, 2008 to September 12, 2008. She performed "Bring Me to
Life" by Evanescence, "Crazy on You" by Heart, and "I Drove
All Night" by Cyndi Lauper. Smithson returned to Idol during its eighth
season, as a mentor to contestants taking part in Boot Camp Training during
"Hollywood Week," although this footage did not appear on the show's
broadcast. Later, during the February 18, 2009 live semifinals results show,
Smithson and fellow season 7 contestant Michael Johns performed "The
Letter," a song they had also performed for the Idol Finale the previous
season. She also appeared in the season 8 Grand Finale, where she served as a
correspondent covering the events of the celebration in San Diego, Adam
Lambert's hometown. Two of Smithson's own original songs, titled "Let Me
Fall" and "Lay with Me," were featured in an LA Times Interview
video of Carly recording songs for her post-Idol album. In the interview,
Smithson revealed that "pop rock" was the sound she had chosen and
explained "I don't want to go too hard rock or too pop." Smithson was
putting the finishing touches on the album when it was announced on June 18,
2009, that she would be joining forces with Evanescence co-founder Ben Moody in
a new band called We Are the Fallen, thought to be named after Evanescence's
first album. The solo album Smithson had been recording was reportedly
scrapped. On October 28, 2009, it was announced that We Are the
Fallen, along with Smithson, had signed with Universal Republic. The band
released their first album on May 11, 2010. After touring and releasing two
singles, it was announced that the band was dropped by Universal Republic on
May 27, 2011 but would not be disbanding. In December 2010, Smithson began singing with Cirque du
Soleil in Viva Elvis. She continues to perform in the production in Las Vegas
while recording new music with We Are the Fallen.
