Kellie Pickler

Although she never went home with "American Idol" title, Kellie Pickler was one of the show's best alumni. She was born Kellie Dawn Pickler on June 28, 1986 at Stanly Memorial Hospital in Albemarle to Cynthia Morton and Clyde Raymond Pickler. Her mother was only 16 when she was pregnant with her. It was a harsh childhood for Pickler because her father struggled with addiction for drugs and alcohol while her mother left her when she was only two.

Morton returned to take her custody for a couple of years, but Pickler admitted that it was not all well. "I remember my mother and I were in the kitchen and I said, 'I wish God would take me away, I'd much rather be dead than live here with you.' She took a knife out, set it on the counter and said, 'Here, do it then.' I was in fourth grade. Of course I never would have acted upon it, but it's done a lot of emotional scarring," she said. The court eventually handed Pickler to her grandparents when she was 12 and Morton did not show up for the hearing.