First Runner-Up

Background:

An American singer and entertainer who began his musical career with the world's renowned Atlanta Boys Choir when he was only four years old, Justin Guarini gained national stardom with his participation on Fox TV's first “American Idol: The Search for a Superstar” in 2002, where he became a runner-up to Kelly Clarkson. The curly-haired heartthrob has had two solo albums, “Justin Guarini” (2003) and “Stranger Things Have Happened” (2005) and an album as a part of the acapella group The Midnight Voices, prior to his Idol competition. Guarini also worked with other artists such as David Hughes in the 2007 jazz fusion album “Foreign Shores by David Hughes” and H.H. Gayuna Cealo on the hymn “Did You Know That I Know Your Journey” (2006), which he composed the music.

Outside of music, Guarini has acted in several films. Making his debut in the Simon Fuller ill-fated movie “From Justin to Kelly” (2003), from which he earned two Razzie nominations and two Teen Choice nominations, he also appeared in the short film “Tilt-a-Whirl” (2005), the film “Fast Girl” (2007) and the independent film projects “The Unknown: Frankie The Squirrel” and “Mafioso II” (both 2008). In addition, he has been a correspondent and co-host for “Idol Chat” and “Idol Tonight.”

Guarini is an advocate for music education. As of 2004, he has been a national spokesperson for Support Music Education, through which he speaks and performs at events such as the annual NAACP Leadership 500 Summit. In March 2005, he became a member of a delegation who met members of Congress and later performed at a private gala concert for Congress, their families and staff. For his efforts in supporting music education, Guarini was handed the NAMM “Music for Life” Award in 2006. Guarini has also actively taken part in rising funds for such charity organizations as Habitat for Humanity, Rockers on Broadway, Children's World Organization, Foundation for Global Harmony and Broadway's Kitchen Sink, among others.

Currently, Guarini lives in Hollywood Hills, California. He is the father of four daughters.

JGuar

Childhood and Family:

Justin Eldrin Bell Guarini was born on October 28, 1978, in Columbus, Georgia, to Eldrin Bell, a former Atlanta Chief of Police, and Kathy, a former TV journalist and anchor at CNN who is now a freelance broadcast journalist and realtor in Doylestown. His parents later divorced and he went on to live with his mother and stepfather, Jerry Guarini, a retired Navy physicist, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Central Bucks East High School, Justin, known as the nickname JGuar, attended the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and studied vocal performance and theater there. He later relocated to New York City where he enrolled in The School for Film and Television.

Justin is married and has four daughters.

Stranger Things Have Happened

Career:

Justin Guarini got his start in music at a very young age. He became the youngest member of the Atlanta Boys Choir at only four years old. Guarini went on to sing in school choirs and later became the lead soloist in the award-winning acapella group Midnight Voices. During his tenure with the group (1996-2000), he had his first recording experience when they released an independent album in 1999.

In addition to music, Guarini also showed an interest in theater. He starred in several productions in his high school and college years, including “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “The Little Prince,” “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Once on This Island.” In October 2001, Guarini joined the Riverside Haunted Woods in Bridgeton, Pennsylvania, as their director and a performer. He directed more than 50 actors in productions, wrote musical scores, performed and helped build the 25 sets used. Pete Griffin, the owner of Riverside Haunted Woods, said, “I remember Justin as the best performer I'd ever seen.”

After moving to New York, Guarini worked briefly on Broadway and was approached by Broadway scouts to take part in master classes for the production of “The Lion King.” However, when he was selected for “American Idol,” he ultimately rejected an offer of a chorus/understudy role. In April of 2002, Guarini entered the “American Idol” competition and soon emerged as a standout performer. He eventually became the runner-up behind the eventual season 1 champion Kelly Clarkson.

Guarini continued to sing with American Idol's 19 Management and secured a global recording contract with RCA. Before joining other Idol contestants for the “American Idol Tour,” he was invited to be a guest star on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” His promising talent was further shown during the tour, after which he received good reviews from such publications as the “Los Angeles Times,” “Boston Herald” and “Indianapolis Star.” Unfortunately for the multi-talented newcomer, Guarini was required to wait until after the release of the winner‘s album before releasing any solo projects or taking any outside offers, a policy that was eliminated from the subsequent seasons. Some glorious offers he had to reject during this period included a guest role on “Friends,” the emcee role on Broadway's “Cabaret,” recording a film soundtrack, a major role in the TV series version of “The Fast and the Furious” and modeling for Tommy Hilfiger.

In June 2003, Guarini's long delayed first project, the self-titled “Justin Guarini,” was released and after a short hiatus, Guarini returned to the music industry with a new album called “Stranger Things Have Happened,” which was released in December 2005 under his own production company, Justice Entertainment, Ltd. It was also in 2005 that Guarini could be seen acting in a small part in the short film “Tilt-A-Whirl.”

July 2007 saw the release of the smooth jazz/fusion album “Foreign Shores by David Hughes,” in which Guarini was a featured vocalist. Prior to the project, Guarini had previously composed the music for the hymn “Did You Know That I Know Your Journey,” written by H.H. Gayuna Cealo. First performed by Guarini in Ishikawa, Japan, in October 2005, the hymn was released in 2006 with proceeds benefiting the child-oriented peace work by the organization Foundation for Global Harmony. He also composed the music and lyrics and recorded the song “Everlasting” for the documentary series “Project Everlasting” (also 2006), which also used music from his album “Stranger Things Have Happened.” It was also in 2007 that Guarini starred as Darryl Sands in the drama/action film “Fast Girl,” alongside Mircea Monroe. Justin next appeared as Keith in the independent thriller “The Unknown: Frankie The Squirrel” (2008) and has a major part in the upcoming drama “Mafioso II” (2008).

Awards:
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