Carly Smithson

Carly Smithson

Carly Smithson is an Irish bombshell auditioning on American Idol. She is known as the "Irish Girl". Carly Smithson earned her way to Hollywood by wowing the american idol judges. However, Simon was not impressed with her this time as he was 2 years ago when she auditioned for american idol in Las Vegas.

Carly Smithson No Stranger to American Idol

Carly Smithson is no stranger to the american idol auditions. Two years ago Carly auditioned at the Las Vegas tryouts. She made it to Hollywood back then but due to a Visa problem, she was disqualied from continuing on with American Idol.

Two years ago, Carly Smithson called herself Carly Hennessy. More on this later.

About Carly Smithson

Her musical influences cover a wide range of performers over a wide range of musical taste. She says many of her invluences include Heart, Celine, Skynyrd, Ray Charles, Whitney, Rolling Stones, U2, Janis, Johnny Cash, Annie Lennox.

San Diego is where Carly Smithson calls home although she is from Dublin Ireland. Carly is 23 years old.

Carly Smithson and her husband currently run a tattoo shop in San Diego. It looks like they'll be taking some time off as she competes in L.A. for the Top 12 American Idol finals.

Carly Smithson Scandal

As soon as Carly Smithson was sent to Hollywood by the American Idol judges, controversy began. It seems Carly Smithson has had two previous record deals. One of them with a major record label.

The other thing that is fueling this whole Carly Smithson controversy is that she changed her name from Carly Hennessy to Carly Smithson, her married name. I don't know why this shocks people, after all she is married and has a right to go by her married name, however some see this as being deceptive.

Carly Hennessy, errr Carly Smithson...or whatever you wanted to call her is not in this all alone. American Idol made a big deal about her previous tryout in Las Vegas two years ago, but they never mentioned that she had been signed with a Major record label and cut an album.

Carly Hennessy Smithson Past

In 2000, Carly Smithson was signed to a 6 album recording deal with MCA Records — a major label. In 2001 Carly Smithson said: “Some people just struggle. I was very, very lucky.”

It is reported that Carly Smithson, or at the time Carly Hennessy, received a $100,000 advance for her first album and a $5,000 a month in living expenses while the CD was being cut. She recorded her first CD “Ultimate High”. The Wall Street Journal reported that MCA Records spent a total of $2.2 million on recording, promotion, making a video, and Carly Hennessy's living expenses and a car for her.

Carly Smithson’s CD flopped on the charts. Big Time. Her first single was titled “I’m Gonna Blow Your Mind” and had sexual undertones. It seems no one liked the CD and she ended up selling a whopping 378 copies. It was even rumored that she would be doing a series of workout songs, but I'm not sure if this ever came about. That would be interesting to see Carly working out while singing. She certainly has the body to be a personal trainer.

What we saw on American Idol is her crying on television about this was going to be her "year" and sobbing telling the camera that she was disqualified two years ago and this was her second chance.

Another thing that has American Idol faithful viewers up in the air about is that one of her singles, “Just Missed the Train”, was recorded by American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson on her first CD “Thankful”.

American Idol's going to have a lot of explaining to do about how they didn't know about Carly Smithson all these years?

It really seams that American Idol is doing one of two things with Carly Smithson, either they are setting her up to be the controversial figure this year or setting her up to win. Some viewers think that they have chosen her to win this year and that American Idol is doing nothing other than promoting her....again...

Whatever the outcome for Carly Smithson, you can't disagree that she is very beautiful and talented, although she should have never had the Tramp Stamps put on her right arm. This has already turned a lot of people off to Carly Smithson and American Idol.