Tamyra Gray Biography:
Tamyra Gray was born on July 26, 1979 in Takoma Park, Maryland. One of twelve children, Tamyra started singing when she was very young and was often a participant in beauty pageant. In 1998, she won the crown for Miss Atlanta. As a student, she majored in business law at Georgia State University. Before she joined season 1 of American Idol, Tamyra took on different kinds of jobs like care worker, telemarketer, waitress and even started her own cleaning service. She also starred in Coca-Cola commercials but tried to further infiltrate the entertainment industry by working with big names like Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez of the group TLC and rapper DMX. Tamyra is a big fan of Celine Dion and Prince.
Tamyra auditioned for season 1 of American Idol and her talent put her through to Hollywood and onto the Finals. She impressed the judges and America with her renditions of “A New Attitude,” “A House is not a Home,” “Minnie the Moocher,” and “Fool In Love.” Tamyra was a very strong contender, but when her performance during 1980’s and 1990’s week failed to wow the audience, she spiraled down to the Bottom two and was swiftly voted off the show. Tamyra was the seventh finalist eliminated from season 1.
Post- American Idol, Tamyra was able to make a name for herself, not just in the music world, but also in TV Land. Tamyra did seven episodes for the television show Boston Public, where she portrayed the role of Aisha Clemens. Her other television credits include guest appearances on Half and Half,
Las Vegas , Tru Calling, What I Like About You and All of Us. She has also worked at the Broadway Theater, where she performed in the musical, Bombay Dreams. On the big screen, Tamyra landed a title role in the highly-acclaimed movie, The Gospel. As a songwriter, she has written songs for fellow American Idols
Kelly Clarkson and
Fantasia Barrino and for pop artist Jessica Simpson. She has also gone back to the American Idol stage several times during the show’s third season, but instead of being a contestant, appeared as a guest performer. In 2003, J Records dropped Tamyra, forcing her to release her album “The Dreamer” under another record label, namely 19 Records. In 2006, she got married to former boy band singer Sam Watters. She is currently looking for new representation and writing more songs for her second album.