Adam Mitchel Lambert (born January 29, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor from San Diego, California. In May 2009, he finished as the runner-up on the eighth season of American Idol. The Times identified Lambert as one of the few openly gay mainstream pop artists to launch a career on a major label in the United States.Lambert released his debut album, For Your Entertainment, in November 2009, via RCA Records/19 Recordings. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 in December 2009, selling 198,000 copies in the United States in the first week. In 2010, Lambert was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Whataya Want from Me".
Adam Lambert was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the son of Leila, an interior designer, and Eber Lambert, a program manager for Novatel Wireless. He has a younger brother, Neil.
Lambert's family moved to California shortly after his birth and he was raised in Rancho Peñasquitos in northeastern San Diego. He attended Deer Canyon Elementary School, Mesa Verde Middle School, where he was a winner in the Airband competition (featuring Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and Mount Carmel High School (MCHS), where he was in theater, choir, and frequently performed vocals with the school's jazz band "MC Jazz". Some of his memorable MCHS performances included Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and "It's Only a Paper Moon" with MC Jazz.
