Carly Smithson was born on September 12, 1983 in Dublin, Ireland to parents Marie Murray & Luke Hennessy. After living 6 months in Dublin, Smithson & her parents moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. She lived there till they moved back to Dublin when she was 4 years old. She started singing at the age of around 4 & also has some experience with acting. She was featured in advertisements for Denny's Sausage (a product of England) for 3 years, starting at the age of 5. In 1990 she played Young Marianne in Fools of Fortune. 2 years later in 1992 she joined the cast of Les Misérables & starred as Little Cosette in Ireland. When Smithson was 10, she released her an independent CD: Carly's Christmas Album in the UK. When she was 14, her parents separated. A year later, Carly & her father moved to the United States in order for Carly to pursue a career in music.
Musical background Before her marriage to Todd Smithson, Carly Smithson (as Carley Hennessy) released an album for MCA Records called Ultimate High in 2001. Smithson has stated that the album didn't have the opportunity to find an audience, due to the record company's merger with a parent company. Though some established artists like Sheryl Crow survived the merger, yet-to-be-released artists did not : Carly's album was released, but with limited promotion. Consequently, it sold just 300 copies in the first 3 months. There were reports that MCA Records spent over $2 million on the production & promotion of Carly's album. However, this $2 million dollar figure included production & publishing costs for songwriters & artists already being paid by MCA & not specifically relevant to Carly's album. The album was released on November 13, 2001. Smithson recorded "Just Missed the Train" on her 2001 album & Kelly Clarkson recorded the same song on her 2003 release, Thankful. Following her success as Carly Smithson on American Idol, copies of Ultimate High are popping up on shelves of Borders Bookstores & Virgin Records stores. The album & the music video for "I'm Gonna Blow Your Mind", is also available as a download on iTunes. For a brief period of time after Carly's elimination, the album made a peak in the Top 10 of Amazon's Top Selling Digital Albums, as well as being featured on the MP3 homepage.
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/carly-smithson-p2288/biography
