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• What do American Idols, Mandisa, Studdard, Sligh, Daughtry,&

  Examiner.com - Found Jun. 13, 2009 What do American Idols and American Idol wannabes, Mandisa, Ruben Studdard, Chris Sligh, Melinda Doolittle, Chris Daughtry, Danny Gokey, Lil Rounds

• TOBYMAC, MANDISA COMING TO VIRGINIA

  The Free Lance-Star - Found Jun. 25, 2009 TobyMac, Mandisa and other Christian artists will perfrom at Busch Gardens as part of park's Glory at the Gardens concert series Date published: ...

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  Top40-Charts - Found May. 27, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen, and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  KOTA Territory News - Found May. 26, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen, and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  Portland Business Journal - Found May. 26, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen, and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  Cincinnati Business Journal - Found May. 26, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen, and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  San Francisco Business Times - Found May. 26, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen, and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  Atlanta Business Chronicle - Found May. 26, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen , and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Singers Mandisa & Jake Owen Help Community Health Organization Set ...

  Nashville Business Journal - Found May. 26, 2009 Country Music star Jake Owen, and American Idol star Mandisa, both performed concerts at the free fest and were part of the BP tally.

• Christian acts get their due with Idol airplay chart revisions

  USA Today - Found Jun. 29, 2009 ... like Mandisa, Chris Sligh and Phil Stacey get a much more accurate airplay count than what we'd previously given them. For example, Mandisa's...

Mandisa extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Mandisa Hundley
Mandisa in The American Idol Experience motorcade at Walt Disney World.
Background information
Birth name	Mandisa Lynn Hundley
Born	October 2, 1976 (1976-10-02) (age 32)
Origin	Citrus Heights, California
Genre(s)	R&B, CCM
Years active	2006–present
Label(s)	EMI, Sparrow Records
Website	http://www.mandisaofficial.com

Mandisa Lynn Hundley (born October 2, 1976¹), professionally known as Mandisa, is a Grammy and Dove Award-nominated American singer and was the ninth-place finalist in the fifth season (2006) of American Idol.

Contents 1 Early life 2 American Idol 2.1 Elimination 3 Solo career 4 Personal life 5 In popular culture 6 American Idol performances 6.1 Semifinals 6.2 Finals 7 Awards 8 Discography 8.1 Albums 8.2 Singles 8.3 Other appearances 9 Bibliography 10 References 11 External links

Early life

Born Mandisa Lynn Hundley on October 2, 1976, she grew up in Citrus Heights, California area.² After graduating from high school, she attended American River College in Sacramento where she studied Vocal Jazz.² Then she studied at Fisk University in Tennessee and graduated with a bachelor's of music degree with a concentration in vocal performance.²

American Idol

This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2009) Find sources: (Mandisa – news, books, scholar)

She auditioned for the United States reality/talent show American Idol in Chicago. She referred to herself as "just Mandisa", and was billed simply as Mandisa, without a last name. She was a backup singer for famed Christian author and speaker Beth Moore. She has stated her musical influences run the gamut from Whitney Houston to Def Leppard.

Idol judge Simon Cowell made several comments about Mandisa's weight during her audition. When he first saw her, he quipped are we "going to have a bigger stage this year."^{citation needed} Later, when Paula Abdul commented that Mandisa had a "Frenchie" growl to her voice, Cowell responded that a more apt comparison would be to France itself.^{citation needed} These were among comments that drew the ire of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, and would be one of the reasons Mandisa would entitle her 2007 album True Beauty.

When Mandisa presented herself to the judges prior to the final cut-down to the season's 24 semi-finalists, she told Cowell: "what I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I've forgiven you and that you don't need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody. I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you."^{citation needed} Cowell told Mandisa that he was "humbled" and apologized to her immediately.^{citation needed}

On the March 7, 2006 Idol show, she stated in her pre-performance video that she sucked her thumb until she was 24 years old. She performed a rendition of Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" which drew praise from all three judges. She was among the 12 contestants chosen on March 9, 2006, as a finalist in Idol's fifth season.

During "Stevie Wonder Week" of the show Mandisa performed "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing". Randy commented that her performance wasn't as great as her rendition of "I'm Every Woman", but he said she was the best so far. Paula said Mandisa can sing anything. Simon said she was the best so far.

On "1950's Week" Mandisa sang the 1954 classic "I Don't Hurt Anymore"; the judges praised her performance.^{citation needed}

Elimination

Mandisa was eliminated from American Idol on April 5, 2006, in the Top 9, having never previously been in the Bottom 3 (she was there with Paris Bennett and Elliott Yamin, neither of whom had been in the bottom 3 either). Mandisa revealed that, when the first group of Taylor Hicks, Kellie Pickler and Chris Daughtry was sent back to safety, and Mandisa, Elliott and Paris were on the stage on one side and the other group of Ace Young, Katharine McPhee and Bucky Covington on the other side, she told Paris and Elliott that it was most likely their own group in the bottom three, as she remembered how the same thing had happened in American Idol (season 3), when the three divas landed in the bottom three, and was sure that it would probably be a "shocker" like that one as Ace, Katharine and Bucky had all been in the bottom three earlier. She, like most eliminated contestants, appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno one day later.

Solo career

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This section may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the section's layout. (March 2009)

Mandisa performed the song "I Don't Hurt Anymore" at the TV talk show, Live with Regis and Kelly. Mandisa sang with Gladys Knight at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and collaborated with tobyMac and Kirk Franklin on tobyMac's recent album, Portable Sounds.³

Her book IdolEyes (with Angela Elwell Hunt) was published by Tyndale House in May 2007. She performed on American Idol Extra with her song "True Beauty". There is a line in the performance that ran, "You can keep all your red high heels and your open toed shoes; I'm good in my barefeet." This line likely refers to Mandisa's belief that she does not need to dress provocatively or appear half-dressed, like many of today's female performers, to be a singer or sell albums. Some viewed the line as a playful reference to fellow American Idol Season Five finalists darby Pickler and Katharine McPhee, who recorded songs titled "Red High Heels" and "Open Toes," respectively, for their debut albums.

Mandisa's first full-length album True Beauty was released on July 31, 2007. She released her first single, "Only the World," on May 22, 2007. The song had a successful debut on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart, which tracks commercial single sales, debuting at #2 and reached #1 the following week. It is also getting major airplay on Christian radio stations. The track is available for purchase on ITunes along with the album track "True Beauty". Written by Matthew West, Sam Mizell and Clint Lagerberg, "Only The World" captures Mandisa’s joyful spirit well. “We all have difficult days we wish we didn’t have to go through, but it gives you so much peace and joy when you realize that it’s only the world we’re living in, and one day we’re going to go to a much better place,” she says of the song’s theme. West would go on to co-write three of the songs on True Beauty, as well as Mandisa's highest-ranking single to date, "Christmas Makes Me Cry".

True Beauty debuted at #1 on the Top Christian Albums charts, making it the first time a new female artist has debuted at #1 in the charts 27 year history. ⁴ It also debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200, an unusually high debut on that chart for a Christian artist. She also garnered a Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album nomination for True Beauty in December of the same year.⁵ Showcasing Mandisa’s stylistic range was the task set before the five sets of producers who lined up to work with her on the album—top-notch names like Shaun Shankel (Beyoncé, Natalie Grant); Brown Bannister (Amy Grant); Christopher Stevens (TobyMac); Drew Ramsey and Shannon Sanders (India.Arie, Johnny Lang); and Double Dutch, the team of Robert Marvin and Josiah Bell (Matt Kearney, Matt Redman). Mandisa also spent personal time with the album’s writers before the songwriting process began, sharing her vision for the project and what she hoped to communicate through the songs. The end result is a seamless flow of tracks that create a diverse landscape for messages of hope, inspiration and faith.

Mandisa's cover of "Shackles" features a horn section provided by LiveHorns.com with Tommy Vaughan on trumpet, Rodney Mills on trombone, and Shane Philen on sax. They also appear on Mandisa's performance of "The Right Thing" on the VeggieTales soundtrack for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

Her second single "God Speaking" was released to Christian radio in October 2007. A third single, "Voice of a Savior," written by West, was serviced to Inspo radio in mid-2008, where it peaked in the Top 5 of Radio and Records' Soft AC/Inspo chart.

In November 2007, Mandisa released a holiday EP, Christmas Joy EP, which features the song "Christmas Makes Me Cry", a duet with frequent collaborator Matthew West. Earlier that year, Mandisa also recorded "Christmas Day," a duet with Christian recording legend Michael W. Smith. "Christmas Makes Me Cry" peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Christian AC chart, stopped from reaching #1 by her duet with Smith,"Christmas Day." It was the first time in the history of the Christian singles chart that a solo female artist was featured on the top two singles at the same time.

On October 14, 2008, Mandisa released a full-length Christmas album, It's Christmas. All songs from the Christmas Joy EP were featured on It's Christmas, as well as several new tracks.^{citation needed}

Her second album, Freedom was released on March 24, 2009.⁶

There have also been reports that Mandisa will be releasing "We Are Family" which is a Bonus Track on Napster on April 14, 2009.

Personal life

Mandisa currently resides in the suburban Nashville community of Antioch, Tennessee. Since her appearance on American Idol in 2006, Mandisa has made efforts toward health and weight loss. The title of her second album, Freedom, was inspired by her experience of overcoming an "addiction" to food.⁷ As of March 2009, she has reportedly lost 75 pounds and hopes to lose a total of 100 or more.⁷

In popular culture

• When The Daily Show parodied President Bush's decision-making abilities by featuring him in a superhero comic book by R. Sikoryak called "The Decider," one of his decisions in the comic book was to vote for Mandisa because "she's a sure thing."⁸

American Idol performances

Semifinals

• February 21, 2006 - "Never" by Heart
• February 28, 2006 - "Cry" by Faith Hill
• March 7, 2006 - "I'm Every Woman" by Chaka Khan

Finals

• March 14, 2006 - "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" by Stevie Wonder
• March 21, 2006 - "I Don't Hurt Anymore" by Dinah Washington
• March 28, 2006 - "Shackles (Praise You)" by Mary Mary
• April 4, 2006 - "Any Man of Mine" by Shania Twain

Awards

• 2008: Grammy Award for Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year (for True Beauty) – nominated
• 2008: GMA Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year – nominated
• 2008: GMA Dove Award for New Artist of the Year – nominated
• 2009: GMA Dove Award for Female Vocalist of the Year – nominated

Discography

Albums

Statistics
True Beauty Released: July 31, 2007 Chart Positions: #43 US, #1 Hot Christian Albums Sales: 160,0009 Producers: Shaun Shankel, Drew & Shannon, Brown Bannister, Doubledutch & Christoper Stevens 10 Singles: "Only the World", "God Speaking", "Voice of a Savior"
Statistics
Christmas Joy EP Released: November 20, 2007 Chart Positions: #71 Hot Christian Albums Sales: 2,900 Producers: Drew & Shannon & Brown Bannister Singles: "Christmas Makes Me Cry"
Statistics
It's Christmas Released: October 14, 2008 Chart Positions: Top Christian & Gospel Albums: #48 Hot Christian Albums: #37 Sales: aprx: 3,200 Producers: TBA Singles: "Angels We Have Heard on High"
Statistics
Freedom Released: March 24, 2009 Chart Positions: #83 US, #4 Hot Christian Albums, #4 Top Christian & Gospel Sales: 31,00011 Producers: Chris Stevens Singles: "My Deliverer", "He Is With You"

Singles

Year	Title	Date Added	Billboard Chart Positions					Album
			US	Hot Singles Sales	Hot Christian AC	Hot Christian Songs	Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
2007	"Only the World"	May 21, 2007	-	1	6	7		True Beauty
	"God Speaking"	October 22, 2007	-		18	26
	"Christmas Makes Me Cry"	November 6, 2007	-		2	3		Christmas Joy EP
	"Christmas Day"	November 20, 2007	-		1	2	18	It's a Wonderful Christmas
2008	"Voice of a Savior"	April 1, 2008	-		30			True Beauty
	"Lose My Soul"	July 8, 2008	-		2	2		Portable Sounds
	"Angels We Have Heard on High"	October 14, 2008	-		29			It's Christmas
2009	"My Deliverer"	January 27, 2009	-		8	9		Freedom
	"He Is With You"	March 3, 2009	-

Other appearances

• "Lose My Soul" - TobyMac (with Mandisa and Kirk Franklin), from the album Portable Sounds
• "Boomin'/Opera Trip Interlude" - TobyMac (with Mandisa), from the album Portable Sounds'
• "Redeemer" - Beth Moore Presents Songs of Redemption
• "Dance, Dance, Dance" - Sonic Praise 2: Worship for Life
• "Christmas Day" - from Michael W. Smith's It's a Wonderful Christmas
• "The Right Thing" - song for the 2008 VeggieTales film The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
• "Broken Into Beautiful" - performend on the Women of Faith Compilation "It Must Be Grace".

Mandisa appeared on the 700 Club on July 9th 2007. She discussed the release of her new album "True Beauty" and book "IDOLeyes". Mandisa sang a song from her debut album, "God Speaking".

Bibliography

• IdolEyes – published on May 9, 2007

References

External links

• Mandisa's Official Website
• Mandisa at IMDB
• Mandisa at American Idol
• February 21, 2006 Sacramento Bee article
• MTV Mandisa Interview
• STREETBRAND Magazine Interview

v • d • e American Idol season 5 Finalists Taylor Hicks · Katharine McPhee · Elliott Yamin · Chris Daughtry · Paris Bennett · Kellie Pickler · Ace Young · Bucky Covington · Mandisa · Lisa Tucker · Kevin Covais · Melissa McGhee Other Sources Tour · "Do I Make You Proud"