American Idol is currently in its ninth season. Ever wondered what happened to all of its winners?

KELLY Clarkson is coming to Malaysia. Yup, the first winner of American Idol is heading to Kuala Lumpur for her ”All I Ever Wanted” tour and I bet most of you can’t wait to see her in action.

I like Kelly. From her rags-to-riches tale to her refusal to conform to Hollywood’s unwritten stick-thin figure rule, there’s much to like about the talented girl.

Kelly won American Idol hands down in 2002, beating curly-haired Justin Guarini whose vocal talents just couldn’t match Kelly’s.

I did not watch the show back then but you can just tell that Kelly has always been in a league of her own.

After her win, the 27-year-old superstar went on to release four hit albums, win two Grammy Awards and sell over 10 million albums in the United States alone. She is currently the only American Idol contestant to have reached number one in the music charts in Britain with My Life Would Suck Without You.

Kelly's is definitely a successful American Idol story to tell.

The only other American Idol alum to match, or more specifically surpass, Kelly’s success is country darling Carrie Underwood who won the talent show in 2005.

Carrie has recorded three successful albums and won five Grammy Awards. She is a three-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner and is current country music scene’s entertainer of the year.

Her tunes like Jesus Take the Wheel, Before He Cheats, All-American Girl and Cowboy Casanova are bonafide hits, reaching number one on the charts all across the world.

Besides singing, Carrie has also appeared on an episode of TV series How I Met Your Mother, and will soon be seen in the independent film Soul Surfer.

While it’s great to mention these girls’ amazing success, it is also unfortunate to note that Kelly and Carrie are the only two commercially successful American Idol winners so far.

Don’t believe me? Well, do you know what Fantasia Barrino and Taylor Hicks are up to now?

Though the American Idol 2004 and 2006 winners respectively showed much promise and potential at the time of their win, we have yet to hear any news from them talent-wise. To be honest, Fantasia didn’t fare too badly, actually.

After winning the title, Fantasia released her single I Believe which debuted at number one on the Billboards Top 100 chart, making her the first recording artiste to debut at the number one spot with a debut single.

She recorded two albums, got eight Grammy nominations, toured with Kanye West and even landed herself the role of Celie in the Broadway musical of The Color Purple.

Fantasia as Celie in The Color Purple

Still, those achievement aren’t enough to get many of us excited about her third album, set for a release this year.

One Idol alum hoping to reboot his career is Ruben Studdard. He announced his plans to go on tour with another American Idol failure … err pal, Clay Aiken.

The duo, who were already besties from their American Idol season two years, are teaming up for a US summer tour in July.

They will perform both separately and together during the tour and have promised to bring surprise guests along for shows.

OMG, are they finally giving Taylor Hicks a job opportunity?

As the fifth season winner, Taylor is doing very badly when it comes to his music career. While his first single Do I Make You Proud hit number one on the Billboard chart, it didn’t stay there for long. Looking for other ways to make money and cling on to his 15 minutes of fame, Taylor released a memoir based on his life titled Heart Full Of Soul: An Inspirational Memoir About Finding Your Voice And Finding Your Way. He should’ve first found a way to make that title shorter!

Taylor is no longer tied to any recording label, so people, watch out for that ”Soul Patrol” … it might just run you over when you least expect it.

Other American Idol winners like Jordin Sparks and David Cook are under the radar currently, citing touring and working on their album as reasons why they’re away from the public eye.

Anyway, I’m giving the latest American Idol winner Kris Allen another year before he finds mega success touring with Taylor Hicks … oh wait, what am I thinking? That’s not going to happen. Ever.

Sharm says: Judging from the overflowing talent (read sarcasm) in the current American Idol season, I predict the winner to go on tour with Taylor Hicks as well. Except if it is Crystal Bowersox. I like her!