page_title: Kellie Pickler
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Kellie Pickler / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Courthouse Square Park, Albemarle, North Carolina
context_page_description: Kellie Dawn Pickler is an American country music singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. Pickler gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of American Idol and finished in sixth place. In 2006, she signed to 19 Recordings and BNA Records as a recording artist. Her debut album, Small Town Girl, was released later that year and has sold over 900,000 copies. The album, which was certified gold by the RIAA, produced three singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts: "Red High Heels" at No. 15, "I Wonder" at No. 14, and "Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind" at No. 16.
  Pickler released her self-titled second album in 2008 that produced four singles: "Don't You Know You're Beautiful" at No. 21, "Best Days of Your Life" at No. 9, "Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You" at No. 14, and "Makin' Me Fall in Love Again" at No. 30.
  In 2012, Pickler was ranked as the 14th best American Idol alumna. In October 2012, she parted ways with her former record label and signed with Black River Entertainment.
  On May 21, 2013, Pickler and her partner, Derek Hough, were declared the winners of the sixteenth season of Dancing with the Stars.
context_section_description: Kellie Pickler was born June 28, 1986, at Stanly Memorial Hospital in Albemarle, North Carolina, to Cynthia Morton and Clyde "Bo" Raymond Pickler, Jr. Her mother left when Kellie was two years old, then returned and took custody of her for two years. After this, the court returned Kellie to her grandparents when she was 12 and they raised her to adulthood because her father was absent in her life. Pickler says the major influences in her life are her grandfather, Clyde Raymond Pickler, Sr., a former electrician, and grandmother, Faye Pickler. Pickler graduated in 2004 from North Stanly High School in New London, North Carolina. She was a cheerleader and beauty queen. She sang "On the Side of Angels" by LeAnn Rimes at her high school graduation.
  She worked as a carhop at a Sonic Drive-In franchise, and in 2005, she made an appearance on WSOC-TV's Gimme the Mike! Charlotte contest. She finished in second place. She participated in the Miss America circuit and won the "Miss Stanly County" pageant at age 17 and subsequently competed for Miss North Carolina 2004.
caption: A banner proclaims Albemarle as "Home of Kellie Pickler"
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Courthouse Square Park, Albemarle, North Carolina", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "ILCE-6000", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.9 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2017:10:31 20:34:38", "Image Artist": "Kenneth C. Zirkel", "Image Copyright": "\u00a92017 Kenneth C. Zirkel", "Image ExifOffset": "346", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[35, 105129/5000, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[80, 29721/2500, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "952", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1148", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "20565", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:10:30 15:16:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:10:30 15:16:34", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "995723/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "11977/1280", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "16", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "83662979/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "83662979/32768", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "24", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[16, 70, 4, 4]", "EXIF LensModel": "E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS"}