Kris Allen central

I set a blog traffic record yesterday. More people visited my blog on Thursday than I typically have in an average week - during the past 3 days I've had nearly as many visits as I typically get in a two-week period. And most of them came from google search from people wanting to know if Kris Allen is Mormon (he's not Mormon, btw)

Although not the focus of my blog - since so many people are visiting my blog looking for information about Kris Allen, I've compiled a list of factoids as a public service

• Kris Allen was born June 21, 1985 in Jacksonville, Arkansas to Kimberly and Neil Allen.
• He has one younger brother named Daniel who is a student and cheerleading coach at the University of Central Arkansas.
• Kris attended Murrell Taylor Elementary School, Fuller Middle School and Mills University Studies High School, where he was active in the school's orchestra as a viola player and later went on to win a spot in his state's all-state orchestra.
• Kris taught himself how to play the guitar at age 13, and is also proficient with the piano and the ukulele.
• In 2007, he self-produced an album entitled Brand New Shoes with college friends and bandmates Michael Holmes (drums) and Chase Erwin (bass).
• Songs from the album began being widely distributed during his time on Idol.
• Allen is a devout Christian. He was a worship leader at New Life Church in Maumelle, Arkansas, as well as at the Chi Alpha campus ministry of the University of Central Arkansas, where he was a business major.
• He has done missionary work around the world, including in Burma, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, Spain and Thailand.
• On September 26, 2008, Kris married longtime girlfriend Katy O'Connell Allen
• For his American Idol audition, he sang "A Song for You" by Leon Russell; although, I believe, that audition was not aired during the audition part of the season. In fact, he was only seen in Hollywood week while singing "I Want You Back" by the The Jackson 5 as part of a group. Neither of his solo's during Hollywood week were aired. His first solo performance that was seen on the show was during the top 36 semi-finals when he sang "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson - Kris was truly the dark horse in this season.
• Kris was in the bottom 3 only once when it was down to the top 5 - he sang "The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra

Some have tried to claim that Adam's alleged gayness (although, seriously, does anybody really have any doubt?) played a factor in Kris's upset. Personally I don't think so. Rumor's of Adam's perferences have circulated throughout the season. He wouldn't have gotten as far as he did if that had truly been a factor. I think what happened is that Danny Gokey's fans were probably more likely to move to Kris than to Adam. I think the same would have been true had it come down to Adam and Danny with Kris fans voting for Danny. I just think their style appeals to a wider audience than Adam's glamor rock god image. And, Adam's proclivity for screeching during some of his performances turned a lot of people off. I do think Adam has a beautiful voice - as long as he keeps it toned down; and, he has an incredible range. In any case, I don't think we've seen the last of Adam.

This will likely be my last post about Kris Allen - but no promises . . .