Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus

The Best of Both Worlds!

Miley Cyrus, also known as the hit teen-pop sensation Hannah Montana, will be rocking her way into the Frank Erwin Center Thursday, January 24 with special guest Aly and AJ!

Born Destiny Hope Cyrus, on November 23, 1992, in Nashville, Tennessee, Miley is the daughter of country singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus. The popular young star gained her nickname “Miley” because she was always smiling (“Smiley”) as a youngster.

In 2006, Cyrus became an overnight sensation after she landed the role of a regular girl and rock star on the Disney Channel original series “Hannah Montana.” Her character is Miley Stewart, also known as Hannah Montana, who leads a double life as a school attending teen by day, famous pop star by night. Miley and her best friend, Lilly, must deal with everyday problems and bullies, i.e. the popular girls. But at the end of the day they both enjoy her famous lifestyle and try to fend off the paparazzi.

The children’s show, focusing on a variety of adolescent issues, has proven to be a wise investment for Disney, spawning albums, DVDs, music videos, video games and several books. Following the success of the show, in October 2006, a soundtrack CD was released in which Cyrus sang eight songs from the show. The disk went all the way to No. 1 on the US charts. Miley was in character as Hannah Montana on the soundtrack, but she showed the world her true colors on Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, which came out in June 2007! In December 2007, she was ranked #17 in the list of Forbes’ 20 under 25 list of Top-Earning Young Superstars.

Cyrus was 11 years old when she originally auditioned for the lead as well as the “best friend” roles. It took a lot for this 15-year-old to earn the role of Disney’s new TV queen. “All this hard work I’ve done my entire life is about to pay off,” she said 3 years ago when she first lined up to audition in a group of over 1000 girls. Disney Channel executives then judged her to be “too small,” however Cyrus was persistent in her desire to be part of the show, so Disney called her back for further auditions when she turned 12. According to Disney Channel Executive Vice President Gary Marsh, Cyrus was chosen for Hannah Montana because of her energetic and lively performance and she was seen as a person who “loves every minute of life,” with the “everyday relate-ability of Hilary Duff and the stage presence of Shania Twain.”

Cyrus spent several years trying to get rid of her Southern accent, but in the end Disney wanted her to revive it. Later in an unusual twist, Cyrus had to audition her own father, Billy Ray Cyrus, to see if he would fit the role as Hannah’s dad. As of December 2007, she is working on a movie spin-off of Hannah Montana, titled Hannah Montana: The Movie which is due to be released late 2008 or early 2009!