Three songwriters are claiming they had Clarkson under contract a month prior to her audition for 'American Idol.'

Clarkson may have already had a recording contract - and was in the middle of making a record for someone else - when she showed up to audition for the show, Star magazine is reporting.

If true, that means Clarkson may have violated the show's rule about being an amateur with no prior professional singing experience.

According to Star, Clarkson - who got a $1 million recording contract that spawned her No. 1 song "A Moment Like This" when she won the talent show - was already recording an album with three producers (including Carole King's ex-husband, Gerry Goffin) before appearing on the show.

"She knew what she was doing, but it's coming back to haunt her in a big, big way," a source tells Star. "She's trying to make herself out as this innocent American sweetheart - now it's coming out she's a phony and a liar."

According to the show's rules, contestants had to be complete amateurs and each of them signed releases stating they had never recorded anything.

Noted songwriters Michael Blum, Barry Goldberg and Goffin now claim they had Clarkson under contract a month before the "Idol" auditions began, the magazine says.

UPDATE
The Gerry Goffin connection shouldn't have come as a tremendous surprise to anyone: it's right there in her Bertelsmann bio:

She held jobs at the zoo, at a pharmacy, as a comedy club waitress, telemarketer and bookstore clerk and finally saved enough money to get to Los Angeles. But what initially looked promising turned into a nightmare: Gerry Goffin, a well-known songwriter and Kelly's mentor, suddenly fell ill. Her roommate decided to leave the state. Finally, her apartment burnt down. After just four months in California, the dream of show business had fallen apart - Kelly returned to Burleson. Broke and discouraged, she was working as a distributor of promotional samples for an energy drink when a friend convinced her to try out for American Idol.

For more on Idol and Clarkson see here, here, here, and here.

ANOTHER IN AN ENDLESS LINE OF UPDATES
Knight Ridder reports:

Before auditioning for "Idol," "Kelly had a contract to record five songs for the purpose of getting a recording agreement and nothing came of this," Hollywood attorney Jay Cooper, who represents the producers who contracted with Clarkson, said. Michael Blum, Barry Goldberg and Gerry Goffin (singer Carole King's ex-husband) had hired Cooper when they went out attempting to get a recording deal.

Cooper, however, said the Texas waitress-turned-singer did "nothing wrong."

Clarkson's representative Dvora Vener, in Los Angeles, was not available for comment Thursday.

....Cooper said Thursday, that Star "got it wrong."

"She didn't have a recording deal," he said.