Mandisa made a name for herself on the fifth season of American Idol. With her performance of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman, Mandisa soared into the Top 12 finalists. Mandisa made it to ninth place in the competition and toured with her fellow Top 10 finalists during the American Idols LIVE! 2006 tour.

Since her time on American Idol, Mandisa has found success in the Contemporary Christian realm of music. Her first full length album, True Beauty, was released in July of 2007 and debuted at #1 on the Top Christian Albums chart, making it the first time a new female has debuted at #1 in the charts 27 year history. True Beauty also debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200, which is an unusually high debut for a Christian artist on that chart. In November of that year, Mandisa released a holiday EP entitled Christmas Joy EP. In October 2008, Mandisa released a full-length holiday album called Its Christmas. This past March, Mandisa released a new album, Freedom.

Mandisas music has earned her one Grammy Award nomination and three GMA Dove Award nominations. She has kept busy touring and performing. In addition, Mandisa has been working out and documenting her weight loss in her Journey to 100 online video series.

Happy Birthday, Mandisa!

View photos of Mandisa on Season 5 of American Idol.