Phillip Phillips

Before he was a television champion, Phillip Phillips was a guitar player in small-town Georgia, working at his family's pawn shop and fronting a local band. His sound, which he has described as a blend of jazz and alternative rock, owes much to Damien Rice, Dave Matthews and John Butler, and it is that wide-open, confessional songwriting that gives his records their pull.

He won the eleventh season of American Idol in 2012, and his coronation single "Home" became the best-selling coronation song in the show's history. His debut, The World from the Side of the Moon, arrived in November 2012 with "Gone, Gone, Gone" and spent 61 weeks on the Billboard 200; it is certified Platinum by the RIAA. Behind the Light followed in 2014, then Collateral in 2018 featuring "Miles", and Drift Back in June 2023 with "Dancing with Your Shadows". He has toured with John Mayer, Gavin DeGraw and the Goo Goo Dolls and shared stages with Bruce Springsteen.