Paul McDonald (born William Paul McDonald; August 29, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter from Huntsville, Alabama, who as of 2011, resides in Nashville, Tennessee. McDonald placed 8th on the tenth season of American Idol and since 2005, he has been the lead singer of the band Hightide Blues, renamed The Grand Magnolias in 2010.

McDonald was one of the 11 performers in the 2011 American Idols Live Tour, which began in West Valley City, Utah, on July 6, 2011, and ended in Rochester, New York, on September 10, 2011. On May 25, 2011 he appeared on Rachael Ray along with Stefano Langone and Pia Toscano. McDonald even recorded a song, “Now That I’ve Found You”, with his wife Nikki Reed, which debuted on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show on November 15, 2011. The couple released their first EP together, The Best Part, on October 29, 2012.

In September 2012, McDonald appeared in a Parenthood episode as a musician who used Crosby and Adam’s recording space, The Luncheonette, and sang a new song, “Counting Stars.”

McDonald and his wife, Nikki Reed, starred in Hanson’s 2013 music video for “Get the Girl Back”. The video was filmed in January 2013, and released in April, 2013. As well as Paul and Nikki, other famous faces in the video include Kat Dennings, Drake Bell, Drew Seeley, Amy Paffrath, and Alex Beh. On July 8, 2014, McDonald and Reed released an album titled I’m Not Falling.

In 2014, McDonald launched his solo career by releasing a single, “Bright Lights,” on October 7, 2014, and a video released on November 3, 2014.