Pop sensation Katharine McPhee has been turning out sweetly sentimental tunes since the mid-'00s, forging a winding path all her own. Born in 1984 in Los Angeles to a television producer father and a vocal coach mother, one could say that McPhee was destined for greatness. Starting at 12 years old, she trained as a singer, going on to spend three semesters studying musical theater at Boston Conservatory before dropping out to try her hand at acting. Auditioning—and getting booked on—numerous TV shows and musical theater productions, McPhee would catch her big break on none other than ‘American Idol,' becoming the fifth season runner-up. The experience launched her brilliant career, as she immediately released a single containing her ‘American Idol' finale selection, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," which peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and remained on the chart for over a year.

After signing to RCA, she released her self-titled debut in 2007, landing at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, a remarkable feat for the singer's first full-length album. ‘Katharine McPhee' contained a set of killer pop tunes and savvy performances, such as the rhapsodic "Over It," which made a number of charts. McPhee followed that album with collaborations and duets, including a performance with Andrea Bocelli. To switch up the pace, McPhee went back into acting, doing both films (‘The House Bunny,' ‘Shark Night 3D') and TV episodes (‘Ugly Betty,' ‘Community,' ‘CSI: NY'). The follow-up to her self-titled album, ‘Unbroken' came out in 2010, peaking at No. 27 on the U.S. Billboard 200. McPhee continued to stay true to form, while changing it up: In 2017, she released ‘I Fall in Love Too Easily,' a wonderful collection of misty American standards by Sondheim, Porter, and Levant, among others. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.