Katharine Hope McPhee (born March 25, 1984) is an American pop singer and actress who was the runner-up to Taylor Hicks on the fifth season of American Idol in 2006.McPhee was persuaded by boyfriend, Nick Cokas, and parents to try out for American Idol. She auditioned in San Francisco, and sang "God Bless the Child", originally performed by Billie Holiday. Paula Abdul said that McPhee was "absolutely beautiful", Randy Jackson hailed her audition as potentially the best so far that season, and Simon Cowell complimented her for being "current" and her audition being "absolutely fantastic". McPhee listed Whitney Houston and Brian McKnight as her favorite artists in the American Idol interview of the top 24 semi-finalists. During the week preceding the top three show, McPhee visited her former high school for her hometown celebration. Antonio Villaraigosa visited Notre Dame High School and proclaimed McPhee's visit as "Katharine McPhee Day." McPhee's run on American Idol led to the popular use of the term "McPheever", coined by Ralph Garman of Los Angeles radio station KROQ's morning show Kevin and Bean. She also referred to her fans as the "Kat Pack" and "McPhans".
 McPhee was congratulated by Congressman Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks, the 27th district of California, who raised a flag in her honor at the United States Capitol on the day of the finale show. McPhee was credited with performing K.T. Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" during the Idol final run. During the Idol Finale, McPhee dueted with Meat Loaf. They performed It's All Coming Back To Me Now, which Loaf would go on to record with Rocker Chick' Marion Raven, whose voice has been compared to Katharine's.