Failed Idol Hits Big Time

By Larry London
Washington, D.C.
23 July 2007

It has been an incredible year for Chris Daughtry. His debut album is the top seller of 2007 and his live shows are garnering rave reviews. Now his band, Daughtry, is on tour with the Canadian rock band Nickleback. But the rising star did not always think he was going to be a rock star.

"I wanted to become a comic artist,” says Daughtry. “I was in every possible art class through high school you could do. When I (finally) got into music, I knew that's the thing I wanted to do."

It was Daughtry's wife Deanna who encouraged him to audition for American Idol.

"She was the one who talked me into it. She wanted me to do it for years. I was, like, 'I'm going to do this and see what happens.'"

Chris Daughtry's current hit, "Home", was written before he produced his debut album. It became so popular it was played on American Idol this season whenever contestants got voted off the show. Its success was a surprise to him.

"It just started playing on random radio stations without us knowing about it, and people just started calling in requests on it. And we said, 'Wow, what do you do now?' Obviously, they want it ? Give them what they want!"

Chris named his band "Daughtry" as an expression of his confidence in his talent to write and sing his own songs.

"I never was [thinking], 'Well, that person is successful. Maybe if I do a song that they did ?' I never wanted to do that. I know who I am. I've been doing this since I was 16 years old. I'm going to go out there and show everyone who I am. If people like it, they know why. And if people don't like it, they also know why. I am who I am."

失败偶像展示成功一幕

对克里斯·多特里来说这是难以置信的一年。他的首张专辑2000年销量达到顶峰，现场的表现更是历历在目。现在他的乐队Daughtry，即将和加拿大乐队Nickleback展开较量。但是后起之秀不总是认为他将要成为摇滚明星。

Daughtry说：“我想成为一名滑稽艺术家”。我尽可能上你可以上的高中艺术课，当我最终走向音乐，我知道那就是我想要做的事。

是Daughtry的妻子Deanna鼓励他对美国偶像派试演的。

是她说服我去试演的，她想叫我从事这一行业。我将要从事这一行业并观察会发生什么变化。

克里斯·多特里的当前的成功演出“Home”在他创作首张唱片之前就被作曲。它在这个季节非常流行，美国偶像派经常表演，无论什么时候竞争者都投票观看演出，这样的成功也令他感到非常吃惊。

仅仅在刚开始随意演奏时，我们都不知道是什么，人们便提出邀请。我们问："你们做什么呢？很明显，他们想要观看，给予他们想要的东西吧!"

克里斯把他的乐队命名为“Daughtry”，这是对他富有创作歌曲天赋一种自信的表达。

“我从来不想，噢，那个人是成功的。可能如果我创作了一首歌？我从不想那么做。我知道我是什么样的人。我自从16岁就从事这一行。我将要走出去给大家展示我是谁。如果人们喜欢，他们知道这是为什么。如果人们不喜欢，他们也想知道为什么。我就是我。”