Christopher
Jacob Daughtry is married with two stepchildren: a daughter who was born circa 1998 and a son who was born circa 2000, from his wife's previous
marriage.
In a segment on the 2006 season of
American Idol, Daughtry revealed that he is balding and maintains a shaved head in an effort to retain an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
Chris Daughtry is originally from Lasker, North Carolina, an town in the northeastern region of the state. He and his family moved to
Virginia when he was a
teenager. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Daughtry graduated from Fluvanna County High School in Palmyra,
Virginia in the class of 1998.
He is the lead singer of the rock band Absent Element, a band based in Raleigh with at least two self-produced CDs, a wide following and airplay on Raleigh's WBBB 96.1 FM contemporary rock station. He works as a service advisor with a car dealership in Greensboro, North Carolina as a day job.
Inspired by Bo Bice, Daughtry auditioned for
American Idol in Denver,
Colorado with Joe Cocker's "The Letter"; he was portrayed as a young rocker with Southern and hard rock influences. He passed the audition by a split decision: approved by Paula
Abdul and Randy Jackson, disapproved by Simon Cowell.
Simon felt that Chris at that time was too robotic.
On March 1, 2006, Daughtry's "raw" performance of Fuel's "Hemorrhage (In My Hands)" received critical acclaim by all three judges. On March 3, 2006, Jackson stated in an interview that Daughtry had been offered the opportunity to become Fuel's new lead singer. On
May 11, 2006, the
day following his Idol departure, Extra reported that Fuel had offered Daughtry the position as their lead singer
Daughtry has also played
guitar on Idol in group performances.
Daughtry was in the final four, on May 10, 2006, and in a shocker was eliminated from the competition. After Ryan Seacrest announced Chris was going home that night, he asked Daughtry if he was surprised. An obviously stunned Daughtry could only utter, "Yes".
There has been some controversy regarding the accuracy of the vote count on the night Daughtry was eliminated. Many fans say they called to vote and heard a recording of Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin thanking them for their vote, but not one for Chris Daughtry.
Why does Daughty think that he was voted off? In a recent interview, he said that he thought he got voted off because his fans were "overconfident" in him so they didn't call and vote. Whatever happened, the judges, fans everywhere, and even the other contestant in the
bottom two that night, Kathrine McPhee, were stunned.
