Choir Teacher Helped Clarkson Reach Singing Stardom

‘American Idol’ season one champ Kelly Clarkson credits much of her vocal talents to her school choir teacher. “I actually didn’t know I could sing until I was 13 and I wasn’t very much into music,” Clarkson told Australia’s Time Off magazine. “I was a dancer. I remember I was walking in a school hallway and the new choir teacher heard me singing and was like ‘You should really get in choir’. We didn’t have any money growing up so I couldn’t afford lessons or anything but my choir teacher really noticed that I had a gift so she would help me out after school. She basically classically trained me. We did a lot of operas and stuff like that, so that’s the reason I’m so versatile, but I have no idea where my voice came from. Nobody in my family sings or plays an instrument or anything. The first time I performed I did ‘Vision of Love’ by Mariah Carey and [my mom] was laughing because she was like ‘Where in the heck did this voice come from out of this little girl that’s been living with me for so long?’. So I don’t know… it came out of nowhere.”