Early life

Stevens grew up in Middlebury, Connecticut to Mark and Clara (née Francisco) Stevens. She graduated from Pomperaug High School in Southbury in June 2010. She was named the 2009 Westbury Outstanding Teen at the Greater Watertown Scholarship Pageant.

Stevens is of Portuguese descent on her mother's side and speaks Portuguese. She was instrumental in the creation of the Evan Gagnon Memorial Scholarship Fund, which gives college scholarships to the seniors of Pomperaug High School (Evan Gagnon, who died in January 2009 at the age of two, was the son of Stevens' Spanish teacher.) She was a member of Pomperaug High School's varsity swim team for four years. Stevens first performed for an audience at the age of five years, when she sang the national anthem at a party for a politician in her hometown.

When she was 7 years old, she sang From This Moment On at an aunt's wedding. She has long been active in her local theater community. She played Dorothy in both BSS Children's Theater and Main Street Theater's production of The Wizard of Oz. At Main Street Theater Stevens also played the role of Sharpay in High School Musical and "The Cat" in Honk. She played Nellie Forbush in Pomperaug High School's South Pacific alongside Gary Dwyer as Emile DeBeque. She performed at Carnegie Hall at the age of 13.

Career

2009-10: American Idol

On August 13, 2009, she auditioned for American Idol in Boston, Massachusetts and sang "At Last", where all four judges (including guest judge Victoria Beckham) advanced her to Hollywood. At the Boston audition, judge Kara DioGuardi called her one of the most talented 16-year-olds she had ever seen. In Hollywood, DioGuardi made the prediction, "You could be the potential winner." On March 24, 2010, Stevens landed in the bottom 3 during elimination night, along with Paige Miles and Tim Urban. She was proclaimed safe, giving her a spot on the American Idol summer tour.

Most of the critiques the judges gave her had been with regard to her pitch, age, and song choice. In her performance of "Chain of Fools", DioGuardi told her she had found where she belonged: R&B-pop, but she needed to work on being younger. She landed in the bottom three the following night but was declared safe, putting her into the Top 9.

In her Top 9 performance of "Let It Be", all of the judges thought it was a huge improvement. Ellen stated that she wouldn't be in the bottom 3 after that performance. Simon said that she had done what she was told by being Country, while Kara and Randy disagreed, opining that she has more of an R&B sensibility. Nonetheless, her performance secured her a position in the Top 8. However, the Top 9 remained intact for another week due to the judges' save of Michael Lynche. She was eliminated from American Idol the following week on April 14, along with Andrew Garcia. Her elimination came second on the double elimination night. From July 1 to August 31, 2010 Stevens toured with the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2010. On tour, she sang "Here We Go Again" and "Fighter".

Performances

Week #	Theme	Song choice	Original artist	Order #	Result
Audition	Auditioner's Choice	"At Last"	Glenn Miller and his Orchestra	N/A	Advanced
Hollywood	First Solo Performance	"For Once in My Life"	Stevie Wonder
	Group Performance	"No One"	Alicia Keys
	Second Solo	"Chasing Pavements"	Adele
Top 24 (12 Women)	Billboard Hot 100 Hits	"Feeling Good"	Cy Grant	12	Safe
Top 20 (10 Women)		"Put Your Records On"	Corinne Bailey Rae	4
Top 16 (8 Women)		"Breakaway"	Kelly Clarkson	1
Top 12	The Rolling Stones	"Wild Horses"	The Rolling Stones	6
Top 11	Billboard #1 Hits	"Big Girls Don't Cry"	Fergie	8	Bottom 31
Top 10	R&B/Soul	"Chain of Fools"	Aretha Franklin	7
Top 9	Lennon-McCartney	"Let It Be"	The Beatles	2	Safe
Top 92	Elvis Presley	"Baby, What You Want Me to Do"	Jimmy Reed	8	Eliminated3

2010-present: Debut Studio Album; Faking It

After her elimination, Stevens made several appearances on talk shows. On April 16, 2010, she appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show where she performed "Over the Rainbow". Stevens also appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman along with Andrew Garcia, where they sang "Superhuman" by Chris Brown and Keri Hilson. She and Garcia appeared on the Wendy Williams Show where she performed "Big Girls Don't Cry".

As of early November 2010, she has written 9 songs. Stevens was a guest performer on Ídolos Portugal on December 12, 2010, where she sang "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. In June 2012, Stevens played the title role in Todrick Hall's YouTube sensation "Beauty and the Beat".

She won the role of Karma Ashcroft on the MTV scripted comedy, Faking It, which premiered on April 22, 2014. In 2015, Stevens was cast as Lindsey Willows in the CSI finale movie Immortality.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]