Kris Allen

On September 20, 2019, Allen released "10," consisted of re-worked versions of songs on his previous albums. The album title referenced that it has been ten years since Allen won American Idol and began his music career.

On May 6, 2018, Allen announced on Twitter that he would be joining the American Idol Live! Tour as a special guest. The tour kicked off in Redding, California on July 11. Allen also released a new single, "When All The Stars Have Died" on June 29, 2018.

In February 2017, he released an acoustic version of his single "Waves" for Valentine's Day. Also this month, he announced he had formed a new band called The Dames. They premiered a song called "The Death of Mr. Jones" in addition to doing a StageIt show.

On April 7, 2017, he released a surprise Letting You In acoustic EP which featured a brand new song called "Venice."

On May 20, 2017 The Dames released their first song digitally, "The Death of Mr. Jones". The song is the first of six songs to be released this year by the band.

Allen released his fifth studio album, Letting You In, on March 18, 2016.

In 2015, he began work on his next studio album. The lead single, "Waves", was released to digital retailers on February 19, 2016 alongside pre-orders of the album. His fifth studio album, Letting You In, was released on March 18, 2016.

"Love Will Find You" was released to American hot adult contemporary radio on September 19, 2016 as the second single.

Somethin' About Christmas, was released on November 4, 2016. It was supported by the single "Mommy, Is There More Than Just One Santa Claus?" for which he asked fans for photo submissions for the music video. He also recorded a track with Jim Brickman for his album Comfort & Joy called "A Little Bit of Christmas" and joined him for a holiday tour.

On January 8, 2014, Allen entered the recording studio with producer Charlie Peacock to begin recording his third post Idol album at Peacock's studio in Nashville. "Prove It to You", featuring Lenachka, was announced as the lead single on July 1, 2014, debuted at Yahoo Music on July 7, 2014 and released on iTunes on July 8, 2014. He performed multiple tracks from the album live acoustically on Yahoo.

On August 12, 2014, Allen released Horizons. It debuted at #80 on the Billboard 200, and #10 on the Independent Album chart. Allen did a tour of the U.S. and Canada with the group Boyce Avenue in the fall of 2014. Meanwhile, one of his songs off Horizons, "Lost" was used on the CW shows Arrow (in episode titled "The Secret Origin of Felicity Smoak") and The Vampire Diaries (episode titled "Alone"). Allen has continued to tour in early 2015, including performing at U.S. military bases in Italy and Portugal.

From January 8 to May 3, 2013, Allen toured the United States on his second solo tour Out Alive. The tour consisted of 40 dates with bandmates, Cale Mills and Chris Torres, and newcomer Andrew St. Marie on the piano. The opening act for most of the dates was Jillette Johnson. The tour ended in a sold-out Rams Head in Hanover, Maryland.

Allen debuted several new songs at an acoustic concert at The Mint in Los Angeles on February 9, 2012. The new tracks he performed were called "Monster," "Out Alive," "Better with You," "The Vision of Love" and "Teach Me How Love Goes". He also performed "Leave You Alone", "You Got a Way", and "Keep that Devil Out", which he had debuted at earlier concerts.

"The Vision of Love" was officially announced as the lead single from Allen's second album on March 6, 2012. The song was co-written by Allen, Nasri, and Adam Messinger, and it is available for download on iTunes and an exclusive version consisting the remix from the Finnish duo Maison and Dragen on Walmart since March 26, 2012. The remix of the track leaked onto the internet on January 25, 2012.

It was announced March 29, 2012, that Allen's second album titled, Thank You Camellia, would be released on May 22, 2012.

Allen auditioned for the lead role in the 2012 musical film Rock of Ages, but lost the role to Diego Boneta. Although Allen was considered to be a better singer than anyone else who had tried out for the role up to that point, he had never auditioned for a film before and has said that he did not feel confident in his acting abilities. In an interview with OK Magazine, Allen said he does not feel that he would have been a good fit for role and currently does not have any further plans to pursue acting.

On September 4, 2012, Allen revealed that he parted ways with 19 Management when his contract expired in May 2012 and has signed with new management, Pearl Group Entertainment. In the same month he left RCA.

On November 7, 2012, the cover of an EP entitled Waiting for Christmas was revealed via Twitter. The five song EP includes "Holly Jolly Christmas", "White Christmas", "O Holy Night", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "The Christmas Song". The EP was released on December 10, 2012.

On December 20, 2012, during an online concert, Allen debuted a new song called "Where Are You Amy?" that he dedicated to those affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

In November 2012, Allen visited World Vision's project in Kenya. The visit was part of True Spirit of Christmas tour where Allen also made a short video clip singing Silent Night.

"Before We Come Undone", a song that Allen had co-written for his debut album, was covered by season six South African Idol runner-up Lloyd Cele for his debut album One" released April 24, 2011.

Allen co-wrote a song, "Still Got Tonight", with Andrew Frampton and Steve Kipner that appeared as the second single on Glee's Matthew Morrison's self-titled debut album released May 10, 2011. "Still Got Tonight" was also featured in the season 2 finale of Glee sung by Matthew Morrison himself.

On May 29, 2011 Kris sang "God Bless the USA" at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, DC; aired live by PBS.

Allen co-wrote a song, "Raise Your Hand", with Andrew Frampton and Kevin Hughes that appears on The Voice season one winner Javier Colon's debut album Come Through For You released November 21, 2011. Javier sang the song as part of his Walmart Soundcheck performance series.

On December 3, 2011, Allen along with Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and producer, David Hodges and Andy Davis, founder of Music Empowers Foundation were celebrity judges for The Alchemy Songwriting Competition in Conway, AR. The proceeds of the contest to benefit Blackbird Academy, an arts and music school in Conway, Arkansas.

On December 4, 2011, Allen performed John Lennon's Imagine at Trevor Live, a star-studded benefit for The Trevor Project.

On October 7, 2011, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. Following the shutdown, Allen (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) has released his recordings on the 19 Recordings and RCA Records labels.

On February 19, 2010, Allen traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation in order to raise awareness for the disaster relief efforts there as the UN and other groups continue to rebuild after the earthquake. Allen made his return to the Idol stage during the February 25 American Idol results show to share footage of his experiences in Haiti and to perform "Let It Be". This performance was made available for download as a charity single on iTunes after the show.

The second single released from the album was "The Truth" featuring Pat Monahan, the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning rock band Train, who co-wrote the song. Allen performed the song live at the American Idol Season 9 finale on May 26, 2010. That same night, Allen joined the other Idol winners to sing "Together We Are One" to honor Simon Cowell.

Allen hit the road for his first solo tour during June and July 2010 with Green River Ordinance and Justin Gaston as opening acts. He then went on to join a few major tours over the rest of the summer, opening for Barenaked Ladies, Maroon 5, and Keith Urban between July and September 2010. He then opened for Lifehouse during October and November 2010.

Allen revealed that the third single off his album would be "Alright with Me" on October 6, 2010. On November 18, 2010, he posted an unofficial music video for the song on his official website to thank his fans for their support.

Allen is a strong proponent of music education, and since winning Idol, he has become heavily involved with several charitable organizations that promote music education, including the Music Empowers Foundation and Little Kids Rock. He has stated, "To me, music education is vital to every kid's development, and it can change their lives. I know that if I hadn't had access to music programs in school that I wouldn't be where I am today." For his support of music education in schools, Allen was honored by Little Kids Rock in October 2010. In November 2011, Allen announced that he would be growing a mustache for four weeks to give his fans an incentive to support DonorsChoose and Music Empowers in their efforts to promote music education in public schools. This campaign played a major role in the raising of $80,000 by Music Empowers for music education programs as more than 50% of the donations came from Allen's fans.

Allen has also been a supporter of TOMS Shoes and participated in the company's first shoe drop in Rwanda in March 2010. Following his trip to Rwanda, Allen joined the Barefoot Walk at his alma mater the University of Central Arkansas and performed barefoot to support TOMS shoes and Bridge2Rwanda, an organization that collaborated with TOMS for the Rwanda shoe drop.

In February 2010, Allen traveled to Haiti with the United Nations Foundation to help with relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake. When he returned, he kicked off that year's Idol Gives Back campaign by discussing his trip to Haiti and performing The Beatles' "Let It Be" on the American Idol Season 9 Top 24 results show on February 25, 2010. Allen's rendition of "Let It Be" was made available for download on iTunes with all proceeds going toward the UN Foundation's relief efforts in Haiti. Sales from this performance raised over $250,000 for the UN Foundation.

Allen's humanitarian work has inspired his fans to organize charitable efforts in his honor. To celebrate Allen's 25th birthday, his fans donated over $25,000 to Heifer International, enough to pay for 50 cows to feed families in need. Inspired by Allen's support of music education, his fans also organized a donation of over $28,000 to Music Empowers in December 2010. In honor of Allen's 26th birthday, his fans banded together once again to donate more than $26,000 to Direct Relief toward disaster relief.

Allen's Idol coronation song, "No Boundaries" and his version of "Heartless" both charted within the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Allen's post-Idol self-titled album was released on November 17, 2009, by Jive Records. The album debuted at number eleven on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "Live Like We're Dying", was released on September 21, 2009, and peaked at number eighteen in the U.S. with combined sales of over 1.7 million. Allen's second major-label album Thank You Camellia was released on May 22, 2012, and the lead single "The Vision of Love" was released March 26, 2012.

On May 20, 2009, Kris Allen was declared the winner of the eighth season of American Idol, becoming the first married contestant to claim the title, as well as the sixth winner from the show's inception from the Southern United States. Allen also became the first winner to accept a trophy shaped like a microphone. Nearly 100 million votes were cast during the finale, setting a new world record for a televised singing competition. Unlike the previous season, the winning margin was undisclosed. Numerous sources, including the Associated Press, claimed that the margin "wasn't even close". Allen has admitted that the alleged disparity in votes was a "total surprise" to him.

After winning Idol, Allen made his Billboard Hot 100 debut with five songs charting within the top 100. His coronation single "No Boundaries" debuted at number 11, followed by "Heartless" at number 16, "Ain't No Sunshine" at number 37, "Apologize" at number 66, and "Falling Slowly" at number 94. "No Boundaries" also topped the iTunes singles chart following the Idol season finale. On June 7, 2009, Allen performed the National Anthem at Game 2 of the 2009 NBA Finals to a packed house including Adam Levine, Jack Nicholson, Rihanna, Paula Abdul and Leonardo DiCaprio. Following the performance, which was described as "executed to perfection," the announcement was made that Allen had signed a record deal with Jive Records (along with fellow finalist Allison Iraheta). His major label debut was quickly scheduled for a Fall 2009 release.

On his self-titled debut album, Allen collaborated with Claude Kelly, David Hodges, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot, Salaam Remi and Joe King of The Fray. He also worked with Toby Gad, Alex Band of The Calling, Dan Wilson of Semisonic, Chris Daughtry and Mat Kearney for the album. Allen's debut single, "Live Like We're Dying" was released via Z100 in New York on September 21, 2009. On November 6, 2009, his music video for "Live Like We're Dying" premiered on AOL's PopEater.com. "Live Like We're Dying" would go on to peak at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieve platinum status with over 1.7 million in combined sales.

Kris Allen was released on November 17, 2009. Allen wrote or co-wrote 9 of 12 tracks on the album. In a break with Idol tradition, Allen chose not to include his coronation single "No Boundaries" on his debut album, choosing instead to record a new version of his cover of "Heartless" as a bonus track. After its first week of sales, the album debuted at 11 on the Billboard 200 after selling just over 80,000 copies. Allen's first-week album sales were the weakest that had yet been seen by an Idol champion's post-show debut, although observers attributed this partly to weak album sales throughout the industry at the time. As of December 2011, Kris Allen has sold approximately 329,000 copies.

Allen married his high school sweetheart Katy O'Connell on September 26, 2008. The two began dating back in Allen's junior year of high school. Their son was born in 2013. They welcomed their second child, a daughter, in 2016. They welcomed their third child, another son, in 2019.

Prior to Idol, he self-released a 2007 album, Brand New Shoes.

Allen realized during college that he wanted to play music professionally and began trying to write music. He played his first gig at a local venue in downtown Conway during his sophomore year, and he went on to drop out of college in the middle of his junior year to follow his dream of becoming a professional musician. He worked as a shoe salesman at a sporting goods store during the day to make ends meet and continued playing gigs in Little Rock and Fayetteville at night. In 2007, Allen wrote and self-produced an album entitled Brand New Shoes with college friends and bandmates Michael Holmes (drums) and Chase Erwin (bass). The album's title makes reference to Allen's days as a shoe salesman, and only 600 copies of the album were produced, most of which were given to family and friends.

Kristopher Neil Allen (born June 21, 1985) is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Conway, Arkansas, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol.

Allen co-wrote a song, "Blindfolded" with Lindy Robbins and Toby Gad that appeared on the Season One South African Idol winner, Heinz Winckler's album "24/7/365" released July 8, 2011. The song was released as Winckler's English debut single & performed at the finale of the 2011 edition of South African Idol. The song was later recorded by Allen himself, who included it on his second album.