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The latest "Idol" winner taught himself to play guitar at 13 and had encouragement from his father, who was a musician. It only took writing one song for the nascent talent to know he was hooked on music, he said. "It wasn't that good but I felt like it was the one thing that I could do forever."

Now, making music full-time is a thrill. But he's not stopping there, as he uses the "American Idol" tour to propel himself further as a musician. Allen recently dropped from the tour his signature track, "No Boundaries," which won him the "Idol" title in favor of a cover of a song by the Killers, "All These Things That I've Done."

"The tour director came up to me and asked if would be willing to change it, so we put in a song that has a little more energy and I really feel like the crowd has responded well," Allen explained. He is slated to release his first album this fall.