Scotty McCreery

As a fresh-faced 16-year-old country boy Scotty McCreery strolled out to face Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler at his 'American Idol' audition in 2010, prepared to receive a difficult time from the judging panel. But when he unleashed his deep, baritone voice and homespun North Carolina charm, McCreery was soon on his way to the final, where he was crowned champion thanks to a rousing performance of his self-penned track 'I Love You This Big'.

Signing a deal with Mercury Nashville, McCreery became the first ever country artist to have their debut album reach number one on the Billboard 200 with his album 'Clear As Day' (2011) and went on to perform for President Obama and sing the national anthem at the baseball World Series. He recorded a selection of seasonal classics on 'Christmas With Scotty McCleery' (2012) and worked with Frank Rogers on second album 'See You Tonight' in 2013. Yet, despite his new-found superstardom he returned home and enrolled at North Carolina State University to study a Communications degree.

In 2015 he released the single 'Southern Belle' which peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Country Airplay. He returned to his 'American Idol' roots to mentor and perform with 2016 contestants Jeneve Rose Mitchell and Jenna Renae and, following this, he took part in show's last ever broadcast where he performed a medley of country hits. In 2018 he released 'Five More Minutes', a single which, since his departure from Mercury, became the first independently released single to chart on the Country Aircheck/Mediabase top 50. He announced a deal with Sony Music Entertainment and re-released the single where it charted at number one on the Country Singles Chart.