Abbotsford’s Karen-Lee Batten just released her latest single. The country music singer is a three time winner of the BCCMA’s “Female Vocalist of the Year” award (2004, 2005,2006),[1] and she was also a top 10 finalist in the first season of Canadian Idol .
Karen-Lee competed on the first season of the hit show Canadian Idol. Although she was one of the top 3 vote getters in her semi-final group, which got her into the top 10, she was eliminated on the first night of the finals.
Her elimination was surrounded by controversy because of how it happened. Although the finals were originally a top 10, the judges added an eleventh contestant at the last minute. The wildcard competition was supposed to let one person enter the top 10, the top vote getter. Toya Alexis received the top votes. However because the votes were so close, a second contestant was added at the last minute. This contestant, Ryan Malcolm, went on to win the entire show.
Originally two contestants were set to be eliminated during the first night of the finals, but because of the addition of Ryan to the finals, three had to be eliminated on this night. Karen-Lee received the third lowest votes and was eliminated. Had it merely been a top 10, she would have survived another week and had another chance. Ironically, Karen moved on in group 3, where both Ryan and Toya originally performed.
(From Wikipedia)