With her irresistible combination of sultry looks and beautiful voice, it was obvious Katharine McPhee was going to do well on American Idol.

Those two factors helped propel the 22-year-old through the heats and to the final, where she was the runner-up to grey-haired, soul-singing, Southern boy Taylor Hicks. But she wasn’t going to lose any sleep over losing: "I don't need any sad faces. I got a record deal, I got a new car, and I have all these great fans and wonderful people in my life. It would really just be silly to feel bad for me at this point."

With a vocal coach and accomplished singer for a mom (Peisha Burch McPhee), it was almost inevitable that Katharine would take to the microphone herself. The brunette has been singing since the age of two and her mom has been training her ever since she recognised her daughter’s talent.

In 2002, she attended the prestigious Boston Conservatory for three semesters where she honed her skills in musical theatre, before leaving to audition for television parts. She won roles in a pilot, an independent film and played the title character in a theatre production of Annie Get Your Gun. The Los Angeles born star continued to be active in local theatre by playing Anna Muir in the musical The Ghost and Mrs Muir at a North Hollywood arts centre.

From Kate’s very first audience for American Idol in San Francisco - where she sang God Bless The Child - , her looks and talents grabbed the judges’ attention. Randy Jackson hailed her voice as he best voice he’d heard so-far that season and even the almost-impossible-to-please Simon Cowell thought she was great.

Katharine - who cites her favourite artists as Whitney Houston and Brian McKnight - says that participating in idol wasn’t about the fame, “get[ting] all these clothes and your hair and make-up done” but “getting to touch people‘s lives“. She adds: “celebrity should be used to touch people and reach them in a way that you wouldn't reach them [otherwise]. I really look forward to doing that."

The songstress’s debut single, a double A side of Somewhere Over The Rainbow and My Destiny, which she describes as a “great, traditional pop ballad. I don't think that's going to be the overall sound of my album when it comes out, but it did its job [recounting] my journey on American Idol."

With American Idol behind her now, Katherine has her future mapped out. Like her own Idol Barbara Streisand, she’s hoping for a “well-rounded career”.

“I definitely want to do movies. I know it sounds clichéd, but we'll see how [those plans] play out,” she says.