David James Archuleta was born December 28, 1990 in Miami Florida . Father's name Jeff Archuleta and mother's name Lupe Marie Mayorga .
In 2003, when he was twelve years old, Archuleta sang on several episodes of the television show
Star Search.
He ended up as the Junior Vocal Champion on Star Search 2, Losing the Junior Grand Champion title to
Tiffany Evans.
On one episode, he sang 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".
2007–08 in American Idol
Archuleta received his ticket to the
Hollywood final 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.
His parents were there because he was a
minor.
Archuleta also 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 thirteen. When 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 Archuleta, 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 like
Melinda Doolittle had done the previous season.
In the finale he sang "
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "In This Moment" and "Imagine". Judge
Simon Cowell declared that Archuleta won the evening and even David Cook, who ultimately won, thought Archuleta would win: "I have to concede it, the kid came out all three songs and nailed it", said Cook.
In the final tally, Archuleta received 44 percent of the votes.
During the finale show, identical commercials featuring Archuleta and fellow finalist Cook mimicked the
Tom Cruise scene from
Risky Business where he dances in his underwear playing an
air guitar; they were promoting the game franchise
Guitar Hero.
Archuleta's first appearances on music ranking charts were with the three songs he performed in the
American Idol finale; "
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", "In This Moment", and "
Imagine", debuted on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of June 7, 2008. "Imagine" entered at #36 (giving Archuleta his first top forty hit), "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" at #58, and "In This Moment" entered at #60.
That same week he had three songs on
Billboard's
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart as well, where his versions of "
Longer", "
Think of Me", and "
Angels" debuted at #15, #19, and #24 respectively.
In July 2008
So You Think You Can Dance, a dance competition reality show, Archuleta's cover of "Imagine" by
John Lennon was the featured music for contestants
Katee Shean and
William Wingfield with their
pas de deux performance.
Archuleta signed with
Jive Records in June 2008. His self-titled album,
David Archuleta, was released in November 2008. His first single "
Crush" was released in August 2008 on
Z100, a New York radio station.
On August 12 "Crush" became available on
iTunes.
It debuted at number two on the
Billboard Hot 100, beaten only by
Rihanna's "
Disturbia".
It was the best chart debut in more than 18 months.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, the track sold 166,000 downloads in the first week in the United States.
It has sold 1.92 million digital copies in the US.
Along with
American Idol winner
David Cook, Archuleta placed second on
Forbes' list of "Breakout Stars of 2008".The two co-presented an award at the 2008
Teen Choice Awards in August 2008.
Archuleta also received the Teen Choice Award surfboard for "Most Fanatic Fans".
Figure in film
