David Archuleta Informations

David James Archuleta (born December 28, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. At ten years old, he won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition leading to other television singing appearances. When he was twelve years old, Archuleta became the Junior Vocal Champion on "Star Search 2". In 2008, he finished second on the seventh season of "American Idol".

In August 2008, Archuleta released "Crush," the first single from his self-titled debut album. The album, released three months later, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart; it has sold over 750,000 copies in the United States and over 900,000 worldwide.

In October 2010, he released a third album, The Other Side of Down, featuring lead single "Something 'Bout Love". On March 28, 2012, Archuleta left on a two-year hiatus to be a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile, but stated that he would continue his music career afterwards. As of February 2012, Archuleta had sold 1,108,000 albums and 3,327,000 tracks in the United States.

In March 2012, Archuleta released his fourth album, "Forevermore", exclusively in the Philippines. This was his first Original Pilipino Music album, composed of several covers of Filipino songs. The album was certified gold in the Philippines (10,000 units) as of June 2012.

Archuleta's fifth album, Begin, was released on August 7, 2012, in the United States. A compilation album titled No Matter How Far was released on March 26, 2013. His sixth studio album, Postcards in the Sky, was released on October 20, 2017 and his second holiday album, Winter in the Air, was released in 2018.

Archuleta was born on December 28, 1990, in Miami, to Guadalupe Mayorga, a salsa singer and dancer, and Jeff Archuleta, a jazz musician. His mother is from Honduras and his father is of Spanish descent. He speaks fluent Spanish. Archuleta has four siblings.

Archuleta's family moved to the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah, when he was six years old. He attended Murray High School, and graduated in 2009.

When Archuleta, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was 21, he volunteered for two years as a full-time missionary in Rancuagua, Chile. Archuleta is a graduate of Barbizon Modeling and Acting School in Salt Lake City.

Archuleta currently resides in Hendersonville, Tennessee. He started singing at the age of six, inspired by a Les Misérables video. "That musical is what started all of this," he said. He started performing publicly at the age of 10 when he participated in the Utah Talent Competition, singing "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton; he won the Child Division.

In 2003, Archuleta sang on several episodes of the television show Star Search. He wound up as the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2, losing the Junior Grand Champion title to Tiffany Evans. On one episode, he competed against then-11-year-old Alexandréa Lushington, who became a "top 20" semi-finalist on "American Idol" alongside Archuleta. Around the second year of being on "Star Search" he started focusing on the lyrics, "I didn't even pay attention to the lyrics when I was 12, 13."

Archuleta's competing on "Star Search" was preceded by an appearance on "The Jenny Jones Show," meeting the finalists from "American Idol"'s first season, for whom he performed a spontaneous a cappella rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from "Dreamgirls." He received praise from Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson, and the episode led to appearances on CBS's "The Early Show." The year after "Star Search," he found out he had partial vocal paralysis but declined risky surgery and has said he feels he is almost fully recovered. He limited his singing to specific occasions, like Stadium of Fire, the Independence Day celebration at Brigham Young University Stadium.

Archuleta made initial attempts at songwriting and arranging music after his "Star Search" experience and has written at least three songs. His first singles in 2002 written by his father and Sunny Hilden "Dream Sky High" and a song he had written by Yani Gileadi "Don't Tell Me."

Archuleta received his ticket to the Hollywood auditions at the San Diego tryouts – held at Qualcomm Stadium at the end of July 2007 – with a performance of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" with judge Randy Jackson spontaneously joining in to sing the background "waiting" in the song. He was sixteen during the Hollywood auditions and attended school while a part of American Idol's seventh season.

A parent/guardian was required to be there because he was a minor. Archuleta took advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments when he accompanied himself on piano for his performances of "Crazy," "Another Day in Paradise," and "Angels."

During the 1970s themed week Archuleta sang the John Lennon song "Imagine," omitting the earlier verses in favor of the last one. "Los Angeles Times" columnist Ann Powers speculated that he wanted to avoid singing "no religion too" because of his faith. "As a Mormon, he's unlikely to espouse the song's agnostic ideal," she wrote.

However, he did sing the entire song on "Good Things Utah" when he was 13. Asked by judge Randy Jackson why he didn't sing the first verse, Archuleta said the third verse was his favorite because it has "a great message."

After his performance of "We Can Work It Out," which judge Simon Cowell called "a mess," "Entertainment Tonight" reported that Archuleta was feeling pressure from his father, Jeff, who "reportedly yelled at" his son after a recording session the previous night. Jeff Archuleta, in an interview with Us Weekly, denied the claim.

A May 2008 Associated Press article reported that Jeff Archuleta had his son add a lyric from the Sean Kingston song "Beautiful Girls" into an interpretation of "Stand by Me" (from which "Beautiful Girls" samples its bass line), increasing the costs for licensing, and that this had resulted in Jeff Archuleta being banned from American Idol backstage rehearsals. Archuleta defended his father, calling him "a great guy" who keeps him grounded.

During the Top 7 results show, the contestants were split into two groups. In one group was Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, and Kristy Lee Cook. In the other group was David Cook, Carly Smithson, and Jason Castro. Archuleta was the only one not sorted into a group. He was declared safe after the groups were formed, then was asked to choose the group he thought was safe. He refused, and sat down on the floor of the stage, much as Melinda Doolittle had done the previous season.

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