Kimberley did it alright. She kept making it through round after round of auditions, and finally was to come to Los Angeles to audition in Glendale’s Alex Theatre for the final round. Kimberley now had to make a serious decision – begin law school or pass on pursuing American Idol any further. The American Idol auditions were the week after she was to begin law school, and Kimberley decided to withdraw from law and take the risk. “It was a tough decision because in my mind, I had this road that I could see down. It was clear, there was no fog. And now I was going down this road that was very foggy, and I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.”
Growing up on Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston and Diana Ross, Kimberley relied on her grandmother’s extensive vinyl collection to listen to her favorite singers. Music was a family affair, and Kimberly often sang vocals in her “first band” – with her cousins as back-up musicians. But it wasn’t until the seventh grade, that Kimberley formed an all-girl group with friends who called themselves Shadz Of U – a group that she still performs with to this day. “We used to sing a lot of a-cappella materials – it was all about the harmonies,” says Kimberley. “We didn’t have a leader of the group, and we did a lot of Gospel. We performed at many churches in the area, and on some Sundays,” she added, “we would perform at five different churches in one day.”
Kimberley Locke was born on January 3, 1978 to Christine and Donald Locke in Hartsville, Tennessee, a small town just outside of Nashville. When Kimberley was seven, her parents split up and she moved with her mother to Gallatin, Tennessee where she finished her primary years of schooling. Kimberley’s love for music was innate, and her first memories of singing began when her mother bought her, her first radio with a dual cassette recorder. “My mother bought me these books that were sing-a-longs – the Getalong Gang, Rainbow Bright, The Care Bears…I used to listen to them over and over and memorize the songs. I always loved to sing.”
