Ryan Starr

After graduating from high school, Starr went on frequent bus excursions into Hollywood from her nearby hometown, and on one of these, she met a girl who suggested that the two of them audition for American Idol's first season together.[2] Starr's performance of "Lean on Me" (by Bill Withers) was the first successful audition ever shown on the series.[14] In his 2003 autobiography, I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But..., Simon Cowell wrote that Starr was "cripplingly shy" at the audition, but that Paula Abdul "saw some potential for stardom in her, and decided to mentor her."[15]

Starr, who auditioned as Tiffany Montgomery,[16] adopted her stage name by Hollywood Week.[17] Placed into Group 1 for the Top 30 semi-finals, her song choice for that round of an old jazz standard, "The Frim-Fram Sauce", puzzled Cowell and Randy Jackson,[18] although the following night Cowell deemed Starr "a dark horse" and predicted that she could excel in the competition with better singing material.[19] After she was voted through to the Top 10,[19][20] Starr opened the first round of the finals, singing "If You Really Love Me" by Stevie Wonder; this marked the first live performance in the history of American Idol.[21] Starr was well-received by the judges for that performance but was voted off the series two weeks later in seventh place.[21][22]

The second of Starr's live performances, "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks, was panned by the judges and resulted in a Bottom 2 placement for that week.[23] While Starr's final performance of the competition, "Last Dance" by Donna Summer, was praised by the judges as an improvement over the previous week, it prompted Cowell to reflect on Starr's disparate song choices throughout the competition and express confusion over what kind of artist Starr wanted to be.[24] The judges felt that Starr struggled with aspects of her performances throughout every round of the finals but communicated a shared belief in Starr's potential.[21][23][24] Upon Starr's elimination from the competition, Cowell gave Starr an offer to call him anytime for help with pursuing a music career.[22]

Starr returned with the rest of the finalists during the shows' finale and sang "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", and went on a nationwide 52-city tour with the other finalists. RCA, in partnership with American Idol, signed her.

After the tour, Starr went on to work with HBO on the launch of American Idol in South America. She toured Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil before coming home to resume her acting and singing career in Los Angeles.

• "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" Nancy Sinatra, (solo part in Group performance)

Starr blamed her stalled music career on a two-year restrictive recording contract with RCA. Under this contract, she refused to record an album claiming producers wanted to turn her into an Avril Lavigne type singer. After an intense three year legal battle she was released from contract in 2005.[25]

Upon release from her contract, Starr went on to host "TRL" on "VH1". Starr then released an iTunes Exclusive Single, "My Religion." The song went all the way to number one on the US Billboard Hot Digital Songs Chart, and was noted in the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records to have sold the most exclusive single downloads in iTunes's history. They also went on to detail the fact that My Religion was slated to be released to stores in early 2006, however, iTunes refused to release Ryan Starr's single from contract.[25] One of the highest selling exclusive singles ever, it sold an estimated 360,000 units worldwide according to MTV and USA Today.[25]

In an interview given to the Today Show in early 2007, Starr revealed that iTunes had expressed interest in Starr releasing another exclusive single to follow up the immense success of "My Religion." Starr claimed that she was reluctant to accept as she wished to release a full album, but hinted she had accepted the very lucrative offer put forth by iTunes. Rumors began to circulate that 'Stranded' would be the next exclusive single when images of a single cover were released on her MySpace.[26]

Reports were previously made that Starr turned down a three-album deal with Sanctuary Records. The deal supposedly required her to record two pop albums before being allowed to record her rock album.

Shortly after her run on American Idol, Starr had a guest role on an episode of the hit CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Starr had the lead role in the Direct-To-Video movie, Ring of Darkness.

In 2004, Starr made her most prominent appearance since American Idol, appearing in The Surreal Life.

In fall 2008, Starr appeared in Gimme My Reality Show.

Starr also modeled on and off the runway for several fashion brands such as True Religion, Nicolita swimwear, Tori Praver swimwear, and several others. She also starred in a series of Harley Davidson commercials and ended up being the female rider for Harley-Davidson for their Sportster campaign in 2013.

In 2013, Starr moved to Bali, Indonesia where she bought a villa and worked with DJs doing vocals and lyrics and continuing to model. In 2015, Starr moved to the 3rd arrondissement of Paris France where she worked as a part-time fashion model and a lyricist/vocalist for a production house. In 2017 she moved back to Los Angeles and has recently released information on launching a YouTube channel, and a Fashion and lifestyle website [27] and there are talks of her making her long-awaited album slated to begin production end of 2018.