David Archuleta

About this event

David Archuleta became a star when he was just 16. In 2008 more than 30 million television viewers fell in love with his angelic voice and their 44 million votes made him runner-up in Season 7 of “American Idol.” Soon after, the young Utahan signed with Jive Records and his first single “Crush,” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of its release. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the track sold 166,000 downloads that first week in the U.S. and subsequently more than 1.92 million digital copies. Three months later, David’s self-titled album, “David Archuleta,” went gold, selling more than 750,000 copies in the U.S., and more than 900,000 worldwide. “It was so neat to see how positive fans were about ‘Crush,’” David says of the enthusiastic reception for his chart debut. Born in Miami, Florida, to Lupe Marie (née Mayorga), a salsa singer and dancer from Honduras, and Jeff Archuleta, a jazz musician of Spanish–Basque, Danish, Irish, German, and Iroquois descent, David credits his parents with shaping his musical style. “Music was always a part of my life growing up,” he says. “My mother was also big on dancing and would teach my older sister and me to dance to traditional music. I can’t think about celebrating my family without thinking about celebrating music.” His family moved to the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy, Utah, when David was six years old and he was soon making a name for himself as a singer, winning the children’s division of the Utah Talent Competition when he was just ten, and the Junior Vocal Champion award on Star Search 2 when he was 12. After “Idol,” and his initial chart successes, David continued to win accolades in subsequent years including, three Teen Choice Awards for Breakout Artist, Love Song, and the Music Tour category, as well as the Year in Music – Rising Male Star award at the ALMA Awards. As well as releasing a second studio album, “Christmas from the Heart,” in 2009, David also managed to find time to make his…