The same day that Leesburg, GA bred Phillip Phillips claimed his victory in American Idol's season 11 finale, the 22-year-old songwriter/guitarist released "Home," a debut single that showcases his rich, raspy vocals and masterful guitar skills—and marked the biggest opening sales week for an Idol winner's coronation song. The track has since gone triple platinum and was used as the soundtrack for the 2012 US Olympics Women's Gymnastics team and more recently has become the unofficial theme for Hurricane Sandy relief.

Phillip Phillips released his debut album The World From The Side Of The Moon (19 Entertainment/Interscope Records) in November where is debuted at #4 on Billboard's Top 200 chart and has already reached gold status. His debut single "Home" topped the charts and Phillip will release his second single "Gone Gone Gone" this month.

Phillips first began making music when he was 14, thanks largely to his older sister's boyfriend (and now husband), Ben Neil, who taught him how to play guitar. Phillips kept on studying guitar on his own ("mostly by playing along to the karaoke machine") and soon found himself mastering riffs from classic-rock tracks like Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water" and Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train." Several years later, Phillips formed an acoustic band with his sister and brother-in-law and added singing to his repertoire. After graduating high school, Phillips began studying industrial systems technology at Albany Technical College in Georgia and continued playing music with his brother-in-law. With encouragement from his family and friends, Phillips took a break from working in his family’s pawn shop and auditioned for American Idol in summer 2011—and soon found himself tearing through powerful, full-throated performances of songs by artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Otis Redding, and Wilson Pickett on the Idol stage.