Jasmine Murray

Jasmine Sharee Murray (born March 14, 1992) is an independent American singer from Starkville, Mississippi. She is best known for being a finalist on the eighth season of American Idol where she placed 12th-13th alongside Jorge Núñez. She also competed in the Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant in 2007. Her musical influences include Christina Aguilera.

Early life

Jasmine Murray was born in Columbus, Mississippi and attended Columbus High School, but later moved to Starkville with her family.^[1] She is the daughter of Lisa Murray and is the youngest of five children. According to the audition segments, she is eleven years younger than the fourth. Her mother suffered severe toxemia when pregnant with her, and the doctors expected neither of them to survive the pregnancy. She began to sing at age 3. Her family told her that once they were in a vehicle, she would start singing with the radio, and that describes why she is passionate about singing. She has also performed mini-concerts with the Murray family. Before her American Idol run, she competed in the Miss America's Outstanding Teen scholarship pageant and was a student at the Mississippi School of the Arts, where she was continuing her education until she graduated in 2010.^[2]

Career

Miss America's Outstanding Teen

Murray competed in the Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teen pageant in 2006 where she won the activewear preliminary award and placed fourth runner-up.^[3][4] The following year, competing as Miss Houston/North Central, she won the Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teen title. In August of that year she represented Mississippi in the Miss America's Outstanding teen pageant, the teen version of Miss America, where she placed tenth.^[5] In 2008 she won first place for the pageant's Mentor Club Scholarship, an opportunity open to former contestants.

American Idol

She auditioned for the eighth season of American Idol in Jacksonville, Florida on a whim after traveling to Orlando, Florida to attend the 2008 Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant. Holding number 84122, she sang "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie. ^[5] During Hollywood group night, her group, dubbed "Team Diva", performed "Mercy" by Duffy, but the rest of her group was cut. She then sang "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles, but the judges were not so impressed with Randy Jackson stating that he would not have chosen the song for her and suggested that she should have sung a song by Rihanna.

Murray was originally eliminated in the second semi-final, but was brought back for the wild card round and the judges chose her to join the Top 13. During the top 13 week, she performed "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5, with Simon Cowell giving a minor critique that it was "a little bit robotic at times." She was one of the first two contestants to be eliminated in the finals along with Jorge Núñez and was the second wild card finalist to be eliminated in the first episode of the finals in American Idol history, after Leah LaBelle. As a result, she missed out on the annual summer tour. American Idol's African-American viewer ratings dropped by 28% in the episode following Murray's elimination.^[6] As of 2009, Murray is the only contestant from Mississippi to become a finalist in American Idol history. Among finalists, she is a close friend of Alexis Grace and Allison Iraheta.

Performances/Results

• Note 1: Murray was initially eliminated, as she did not receive enough votes to advance immediately to the Top 12. However, on the March 4 results show, Kara DioGuardi selected her as one of the 8 Wild Card contenders.

Post-Idol

Murray has been on The Ellen Degeneres Show and Live with Regis and Kelly with also-cast-off contestant Jorge Núñez. While missing out on the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2009, Murray also performed Beyonce song Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) at the 2009 Mary Kay Seminar. Later during that time, she performed the Jordin Sparks song "Battlefield", the Rihanna song "Unfaithful", and the Fergie song "Big Girls Don't Cry" at the Delta Fair in Memphis, Tennessee. Fellow season 8 finalist Alexis Grace also performed there. Murray did performances at the 2009 Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant.

Murray performed in the national anthem at a Michigan State basketball game.

References

External links

• American Idol Official Website (owned by Fox Interactive Media)
• Miss Mississippi Outstanding Teen Scholarship Pageant
• Jasmine Murray on Twitter