"American Idol" champion Underwood wins Grammy

02/11/2007 8:43 PM, Reuters
Sue Zeidler

"American Idol" champion Carrie Underwood's Grammy victory on Sunday further underscored the growing impact that the smash hit TV talent competition is having on U.S. pop culture.

Underwood, the winner of season four of the Fox network's blockbuster reality series, took home the Grammy for best female country vocal performance, becoming the latest in a growing list of "American Idol" victors to score the music industry's most valued prize.

"This is my first Grammy, hopefully, the first of a few more," said Underwood, also nominated this year for best new artist.

In accepting her Grammy, she thanked God and Simon Fuller, the creator "American Idol," and various others including record mogul Clive Davis.

Underwood's single "Jesus, Take the Wheel" also earned a Grammy for best country song, a songwriter's award that in this case went to Brett James, Hillary Lindsey and Gordie Sampson.

"The truth of the matter is that at the end of the season, someone great who wouldn't have had a chance otherwise, wins this and gets a shot at a career. So we're really happy about her," Randy Jackson, one of judges on "American Idol," said backstage when asked about Underwood's Grammy win.

Kelly Clarkson, "American Idol's" first champion, took home two Grammys in 2006, while another "Idol" winner, Fantasia Barrino, scored four Grammy nominations last year and fellow "Idol" champ Ruben Studdard received a nomination in 2004.

Even some of the losing contestants on "American Idol" have gone on to bigger things, including Jennifer Hudson, who took home a Golden Globe for her role in the musical film "Dreamgirls" and is up for an Oscar for the same performance.

The Grammy telecast last year lagged in ratings against the popular TV talent show, and this year the awards show is running an "Idol"-like contest to choose a singer to perform a duet with Justin Timberlake during Sunday's Grammy ceremony.

The public trimmed down a list of aspiring singers in the weeks preceding the Grammy broadcast. During the live awards show, they will choose the winner of the "My Grammy Moment" contest.

"We thought we could try a new and fresh element that would speak to the world about the next generation of undiscovered young talent," Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy Recording Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Grammys, told Reuters in a recent interview.

Clarkson created a stir by failing to acknowledge her "American Idol" breakthrough when she picked up her trophies last year for best pop vocal album and best female pop vocal performance.