Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, and stage actor. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana and raised in San Diego, California, he performed in amateur theatrical productions as a child, a path he pursued into adulthood, appearing in professional productions in the U.S. and abroad. In 2009, Lambert came to prominence after becoming the runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol. Soon after the album release, he headlined a worldwide concert tour, Glam Nation, the first American Idol contestant to do so in the year following his Idol season. The tour was followed by two live releases: an extended play entitled Acoustic Live! (2010), and a live CD/DVD Glam Nation Live (2011), which debuted at number one on the SoundScan Music Video chart. Trespassing made its debut in the number one spot on the Billboard 200 album chart, also topping the Billboard Digital Albums Chart and Canada's Digital Albums Chart.
Citing influence from various artists and genres, Lambert has a flamboyant, theatrical and androgynous performance style, and a powerful, technically skilled tenor voice with multi-octave range. His showmanship and commanding presence in live shows have also become part of his signature. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2011 and 4.2 million singles worldwide as of January 2011. The Times identified Lambert as the first openly gay mainstream pop artist to launch a career on a major label in the U.S.