GAC's "Introducing: Lauren Alaina" - Rising Young Star Had Eye on the Prize from Early On

"I always say the kid called it into existence, for 9 years she said she was going to be on the show and she did it," says Lauren Alaina's mom, Kristy, of her daughter's dream of appearing on "American Idol."   Through photos, video and interviews with family members and friends, the story of the 16-year-old's rise from small town Georgia to Hollywood is told in Introducing: Lauren Alaina, premiering Monday, October 10, 9:00 p.m/Eastern on Great American Country (GAC).
 
"From the time she was a baby she never cried," recalls dad JJ. "She learned how to say 'Momma' and 'Daddy' and she was singing from that point on." As a little girl she'd sing anytime she was out in public and people would follow her around, often making requests. By age seven she'd won her first local beauty contest and she continued to win every competition she entered. 

At age 12 she travelled to Nashville with her parents and ventured into the honky tonk clubs along the city's lower Broadway area.  "We didn't know what to do so we'd just walk in where we heard music and ask if I could sing with the band," Alaina says.  "And they'd let me because how do you tell a 12-year-old girl, 'No?'"
 
At Lakeview High School in Rossville, GA, Alaina enjoyed cheerleading as well as time spent with special needs students at her school.  "From the time she was in sixth grade, she would skip lunch and go to the special needs kids and help them," Kristy recalls.  "I always said that if she wasn't going to be a singer, she was going to be a special needs teacher," adds her dad.  In the evenings the teen could be found performing karaoke in front of growing audiences around her hometown unless of course it was a night "American Idol" was on television.  "She wanted to audition since she was five," her mom says. "When I found out they dropped the audition age to 15, everyone called me," Alaina says and soon she was headed to an audition in Nashville.
 
"When I made it to Hollywood, I thought I was going to pass out and when I made the final two, it was incredible.  Not many people get to do what they've dreamed of every day of their life and 'American Idol' opened that door for me."
 
When the show wrapped, Alaina joined the top 11 contestants from the show's 10th season on a summer tour and found time to record Wildflower, her debut album that hits stores October 11.