Allison Iraheta

In March 2018, Halo Circus released their second album, Robots and Wranglers. On September 25, 2019, after an 8-month silence on social media, Iraheta announced on Facebook that Halo Circus would be disbanding due to her parting ways with Hager both professionally and personally.

During the second Top 7 Night (due to the judges' save of Matt Giraud), Iraheta performed a rock-infused version of Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff". Emerging on a glowing, red staircase, Iraheta was praised by Cowell for delivering "a brilliant performance". DioGuardi also praised Iraheta by saying, "That was like a 9–10 for me!" The following night, Iraheta again landed in the bottom 3 for the third time, and Lil Rounds was eliminated from the competition, leaving Iraheta as the last remaining female contestant. The next week, Iraheta performed a widely acclaimed cover of "Someone to Watch Over Me" as part of the Rat Pack theme. Jackson compared her vocal ability to Pink, "but with 9,000 more octaves", while DioGuardi remarked, "you converted some fans tonight... If that doesn't land you in the finals, I don't know what will!". During the subsequent results show, it was revealed that Iraheta was among the Top 2 vote-getters (along with Danny Gokey) for the night.

On January 3, 2013, Iraheta announced on her Twitter account that she had formed a new band called Halo Circus. The band consisted of Iraheta (vocals), Matthew Hager (bass, keyboards), David Immerman (guitars) and Valerie Franco (drums). The band marked a change of musical direction for Iraheta following a hiatus in 2012, a time which she used to "regroup, find herself and rediscover her voice." Halo Circus played their first gig at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California on January 26, 2013. Iraheta eloped with bass player, Matthew Hager the next day, January 27, 2013. They played their second gig at Whisky a Go Go on April 17 and their third gig at the Hotel Café on May 21, 2013. On May 30, 2013, footage from their Hotel Café performance, along with an interview with Iraheta and Hager was featured on the NBC Latino website. In the interview, Hager said "Allison happens to be one of the finest vocalists I've ever heard on every level". In June 2013, drummer Valerie Franco left the band and was replaced by Veronica Bellino. In July 2013, the band signed a deal with the Manimal Vinyl label and released their first single, "Gone", via iTunes on October 8, 2013. On July 15, 2014, Halo Circus released their second single, a cover of Duran Duran's "Do You Believe in Shame?". This release was met to very positive reviews from critics, and was included in a Duran Duran tribute album, Making Patterns Rhyme. This was available digitally on October 24, 2014 and released on vinyl by Manimal Records on October 28, 2014. Their debut album, Bunny, was released on June 23, 2016. Between 2016 and 2018, the band toured small clubs in the US.

In a July 2010 interview with Beatweek Magazine Iraheta stated that she would be writing more material for her second album and that it would be much more 'personal'. She stated, "So I think I'm gonna get more personal when I start writing." Iraheta was dropped by record label Jive Records in September 2010, due to her debut album underperforming. She was also dropped from 19 Entertainment. She then began writing music for her second album. On March 1, 2012, one of Iraheta's new songs, titled "Self-Control", was featured in a video for Skaist-Taylor.

In April 2010, it was announced Iraheta would be opening for Adam Lambert on his 2010 "GlamNation Tour". Allison and Australian guitarist Orianthi shared opening act duties on the initial North American leg of the tour. She performed songs from "Just Like You" for 71 of the 74 dates from June through September 2010. On the dates that included Orianthi, her typical set included "Holiday," "Scars/Don't Waste the Pretty" (with Orianthi usually playing lead guitar for the latter, as she does on the album), "Robot Love," a cover of Pat Benatar's "Heartbreaker" and "Friday I'll Be Over U." She would usually add three songs on the nights where she was the only opening act. On Orianthi's final appearance on the tour, Iraheta and her band came onstage, playing air guitar and sweeping up with brooms. For Iraheta's final date on the tour, September 21, 2010 in Puyallup, Washington, Adam Lambert and his dancers covered her with silly string and carried her offstage.

Iraheta auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in San Francisco in 2009. She sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin and made it to the Hollywood audition rounds. The judges unanimously agreed to put her through to the semifinals, with Simon Cowell saying "keep your eye on that one" and Paula Abdul predicting that Iraheta would be a "dark horse" in the competition.

On May 6, 2009, Iraheta was eliminated from the competition in 4th place. Slash tweeted that "Alison [sic] didn't deserve to be voted off AI so soon, she has amazing potential." Similarly, American Idol music director Rickey Minor was "absolutely shocked" at her departure.

On June 9, 2009, following weeks of speculation, it was officially confirmed that Iraheta had signed a record deal with Jive Records and 19 Recordings. Since Iraheta finished 4th place in American Idol season 8, she participated in American Idols LIVE! Tour 2009, performing "So What" by Pink, "Cry Baby" by Janis Joplin, "Barracuda" by Heart, and "Slow Ride" (with Adam Lambert) by Foghat. Iraheta also performed "Barracuda" by Heart on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on July 15, 2009 to promote the tour. In September 2009, Allison concluded the 50 city tour with her fellow Idol contestants, during which she began recording her debut album, Just Like You, under Jive Records, working with Kevin Rudolf, David Hodges , Tommy Henriksen and Max Martin

Iraheta's debut album was released December 1, 2009. The lead single "Friday I'll Be Over U", produced by Max Martin, debuted on October 5, 2009 and was made available through digital distribution on November 3, 2009. According to Rolling Stone, Jive expected Allison to sell 75,000 copies of her album in the first week. The album sold approximately 32,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 35 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Approximately 7,000 of the copies sold in the first week were sold digitally, resulting in a debut at number 14 on the Billboard Digital Albums Chart. Allison's song "Pieces" was featured on the January 13th episode of American Idol. Allison performed her second single "Scars" on American Idol's Season 9 Top 24 results show on February 25, 2010.

In 2007, Iraheta won the reality show, "Quinceañera: Mama Quiero Ser Artista" (Sweet Fifteen: Mom, I Want to be an Artist), a reality TV singing competition that was produced and broadcast in 2006-2007 on Telemundo, where she sang in both English and Spanish.

Iraheta was born in Glendale, California, to Salvadoran immigrants who moved to the United States before she was born. She is the youngest in the family, with two older siblings, Jacki and Carlos Iraheta. According to her family, she has been singing since she was a toddler. In 2001, she began taking voice lessons with Raphael Enriquez at the Los Angeles Music and Art School, a non-profit community school of the arts in East Los Angeles. Before rising to prominence, she was a frequent performer at the local Latin Electronics Store La Curaçao and the Los Angeles Music and Art School's annual benefit concert, Stars for the Arts. Iraheta attended Los Angeles' Animo Ralph Bunche Charter High School. Iraheta studied with performance coaches Pepper Jay and John Michael Ferrari from 2004 to 2009, and performed during that time with the "oldies" band, "Ferrari & Friends."

Allison Iraheta (/ˈ aɪ r ə h iː t ə / ; born April 27, 1992) is an American singer from Los Angeles, California, who was the fourth place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol. Prior to Idol, Iraheta won the Telemundo competition Quinceañera: Mamá Quiero Ser Artista. Following the conclusion of Idol, Iraheta was signed to a record deal with 19 Entertainment and Jive Records. Her debut album Just Like You was released on December 1, 2009. She was also the lead singer of the band Halo Circus.