Melissa O'Neil

Melissa O'Neil is a Canadian singer who was the winner of the third season of Canadian Idol in 2005. She was the first female winner and is the second youngest idol winner in the world.

In early 2005, O'Neil auditioned for the third season of Canadian Idol. Although she was highly praised by the judges, O'Neil suffered huge setbacks in the top 10 and top 9 weeks of the finals, as she was in both the bottom three and bottom two respectively. Shocked by this, the judges urged viewers to vote for contestants like Melissa, who clearly had the best vocal abilities. In September 2005, O'Neil was crowned the third Canadian Idol and the first female winner.

Immediately after her win on Canadian Idol, she signed a recording contract with Sony BMG Canada and released her first single "Alive", in October 2005 and debuted at number one on the Canadian singles chart, a position it held for four weeks. The single went on to be certified four-times platinum by the CRIA.

Her self-titled debut album was released in November 2005 and debuted at number sixteen on the Canadian albums chart. The second single from her album, "Let It Go" was released in late 2005 and peaked at number seven on the singles chart. The third single release from O'Neil's album was "Speechless", which peaked number thirty-one. In March 2006, her debut album was certified gold by the CRIA for 50,000 units shipped. In September 2006, O'Neil returned to the Canadian Idol stage during grand finale of its fourth season.

In April 2007, O'Neil attended the annual Juno Awards, where she was nominated for Best New Artist. Since then, O'Neil stated that she was working on her second studio album.

She starred in the musical of Dirty Dancing in Toronto, Ontario as a featured singer. She then played the role of Gabriella in High School Musical On Stage with Drayton Entertainment in St. Jacobs and Penetanguishene and was featured as a lead in the Stage West Calgary production of "British Invasion", alongside former lead singer of The Guess Who, Terry Hatty. O'Neil made her Stratford Shakespeare Festival debut during the 2011 season as Martha/Maid by the Fire in Jesus Christ Superstar and she made an appearance in Camelot.

Music Videos

 * Let It Go
 * Speechless