Season three's LaToya London, who now goes by London, amazed the judges from the very outset of her stint on American Idol. As a member of the third group of eight semifinalists, her rendition of "All By Myself" elicited a standing ovation from Randy and Paula, while Simon called her the "best of the group." She sailed through to the Top 12 where she drew rave reviews from several celebrity guest judges. Quentin Tarantino called her a "powerhouse" after her performance of "Somewhere" from West Side Story. Nickolas Ashford of Ashford and Simpson called her performance of "Ooh Baby Baby" "beautiful."

Right after being eliminated from the show (she took ninth place), London was featured alongside Christina Aguilera and Andre 3000 in a voting campaign by famous photographer David LaChapelle. Her appearance on Ryan Seacrest's television talk show at the time was one of the highest-rated episodes. To boot, her song on the season three compilation disc, "If You Don't Know Me By Now" was praised as one of the album's greatest.

In the summer of 2004, London performed on the season three international tour with her fellow Top 10 Idols. She held a co-hosting gig on a prominent entertainment news show and performed at various high profile galas. She has also performed the national anthem for numerous NFL games, including the '05 Super Bowl NFL Commissioner pre-game party.

In November of that same year, London signed with Concord Records, the same label of the legendary Ray Charles before his death. The CD single, "Appreciate/Every Part of Me/All By Myself," soared to #8 on the Billboard Singles Sales Chart. London has since split with Concord Records and is currently writing songs for her second album, which she is shopping around for a new label.

Her debut album, Love & Life, which released in September of '05, was a critically acclaimed R & B, jazz, soul and hip-hop CD. She was given a chance to prove herself at songwriting and worked with some iconic producers, including David Foster. iTunes named the album one of the best albums of 2005 with the San Francisco Chronicle calling it "impassioned and polished." Love & Life sold 12,546 albums in its first week, landing at #82 on Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and at #27 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

London made her L.A. professional stage debut with a starring role in "Beehive" at a theater in North Hollywood. The cast, along with London, was nominated for Best Ensemble Performance by the '06 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. Incredibly, London was also asked to star in an extended Chicago run as Nettie in Oprah Winfrey's Broadway musical The Color Purple. She starred alongside fellow Idol and AI winner Fantasia, who played Celie. London received rave reviews for her reprisal of Nettie from media outlets across the board.

Here is an interesting bit of trivia about London…she attended the same high school in Oakland as Tom Hanks and football player Gary Payton.

Check out this photo of London belting out a tune during season three!

Happy Birthday London, who was born on December 29th!