Bo Bice seemed like an unlikely candidate for American Idol. He had a checkered past, and he was a long-haired rocker from the south. He was far from the clean-cut all-Americans before him that included Kelly Clarkson. But Bice surprised everyone around him by staying in the hunt until the very end of season four. In the end, he finished as a runner up to the squeaky-clean Carrie Underwood. For Bice, it is almost better to be able to go his own way than to be locked into the confines of American Idol.

Bice is from Alabama and was a veteran of playing small gigs around the state. He worked at a guitar store in Alabama before trying out with American Idol, and there he met his future wife, Caroline Fisher. The two were married soon after the final episode of American Idol and now have two children together. Bice released his first album in 2005 titled The Real Thing. The album was popular thanks to the fame Bice brought with him from his time on Idol. The album climbed all the way to number four on the Billboard 200 charts.

While his first album did well, Bice did not feel it was representative of him as an artist. It contained several hits, but not enough of the Southern sound that was truly Bice. He released his next album, See the Light, and it showcased Bice better as an artist and quickly became a fan favorite. The album made it to number 31 on the Top Independent Albums chart and number 150 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album also quieted any naysayers who said Bice wasn't Southern rock enough and critics raved about it. He is even being tapped by Southern rock great Lynyrd Skynyrd as the artist to bring the genre into the next generation.