Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American pop country music singer who won the fourth season of American Idol. She has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified sextuple platinum, and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. Underwood is the first American Idol winner to sweep up honors at all three major music awards in the same awards show season (06-07), including one American Music Award, eight Billboard Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards (including Best New Artist). Her album Some Hearts has yielded five number one hits to date in the United States and Canada, including "Inside Your Heaven", "Jesus, Take the Wheel", and "Before He Cheats".

Underwood was born at Muskogee Regional Medical Center, and grew up on her parents' farm in rural Checotah, Oklahoma. She is the third and youngest daughter of Stephen and Carole Underwood (retired schoolteacher of Checotah Public Schools). She has two older sisters, Shanna Underwood Means and Stephanie Underwood Shelton, born in 1973 and 1970 respectively, both elementary school teachers in Oklahoma. Underwood had performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show in her childhood. She's a member of Free Will Baptist Church. As a young child, she sang in church, and for Old Settler's Day and Lion's Club, local events in Checotah. At the age of 13 in 1996, her manager at the time tried to get her a recording contract at Capitol Records. However, due to management changes at Capitol, it never materialized. Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. After high school, she moved on to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism. Underwood is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, and a tribal member of Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma. For two years during the summer, she performed in Northeastern's Downtown Country show in Tahlequah. She also competed in numerous beauty pageants at the university and was selected as Miss NSU runner-up in 2004. She currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee.