Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken (born Clayton Holmes Grissom on November 30, 1978) is an American popular music singer who rose to fame on the American Idol television program, and who has become the most successful second-place finisher in that show's history. He has also become the most successful and famous contestant from season two of that show.

Contents 1 Early years 2 American Idol 3 Post-Idol career 4 Aiken's fans 5 Tours 6 Awards and nominations 7 Discography 7.1 Albums 7.2 Singles released to retail 7.3 Videos released to retail 7.4 Singles charting on radio 8 References 9 External links 9.1 Official websites 9.2 Fansites

Early years

Aiken, who changed his last name from Grissom to his mother's maiden name, was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a young boy he trained with the Raleigh Boychoir, and later performed with a local Raleigh band, "Just By Chance". "Scouts Remember Fallen Veterans" by Tom Woerner, The Dunn Daily Record, 05/22/2003, retrieved April 7, 2006 - article archived He attended Raleigh's Leesville Road High School before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Although his American Idol activities temporarily delayed his academic pursuits, Aiken graduated with a bachelor's degree in special education in December of 2003. He found his interest in special education while directing YMCA children's camps as a teenager; at age 19 he served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of students with autism at Brentwood Elementary School. While attending college in Charlotte he took a part-time job as an assistant to a boy with autism, and it was this child's mother, Diane Bubel, who urged him to audition for American Idol.

American Idol

Television viewers' first glimpse of Aiken came during the audition episodes at the beginning of American Idol's second season. The show's judges first saw Aiken as a nerd type unlikely to be any kind of idol, but they were immediately impressed once he began singing Heatwave's (band) "Always and Forever." The clip of the judges' surprise during this audition performance was replayed many times over the course of the competition.

Aiken made it to the round-of-32, but was cut from the show on his first try, a performance of Journey's "Open Arms." He finished third in his semifinal group of eight behind eventual winner Ruben Studdard and eventual third-place finisher Kimberley Locke. However, during the "wild card" round, Aiken's well-received performance of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" propelled him into the final 12. Within the first few weeks (aided by a makeover from the show's producers), Aiken and Studdard emerged as the clear favorites of both the judges and the fans. While Aiken was especially noted for his performance of ballads, such as the dramatically-lit rendition of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire," his upbeat performances, including The Foundations' "Build Me Up Buttercup," were also met with considerable enthusiasm from the voters.

On 21 May, 2003, Aiken came in a close second in the contest, with Studdard winning by a narrow margin--just over 130,000 votes out of more than 24,000,000 votes cast. The result was somewhat controversial as some hypothesized that Idol's voting system was incapable of handling the number of attempted calls, thereby possibly yielding a random result.[1] In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season of American Idol, Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed for the first time that Aiken had led the fan voting every week from the Wild Card week onward until the finale, when the possibly-random voting result gave Studdard the win.[2] Though officially Aiken was the show's "first runner-up," he has since gone on to be the second season's best-selling star.

Post-Idol career

The single "Bridge Over Troubled Water"/This Is the Night," released June 10, 2003, was RIAA certified platinum July 15, 2003. Debuting at #1 on both the "Billboard Hot 100" and the Hot 100 Single Sales Chart, it was the fastest-selling single since Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and the best-selling single of 2003. It was the first CD single to go platinum since 2002, when Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" sold a million copies after being out for over a year.

On October 13, 2003, Aiken released his first solo album, Measure of a Man, which debuted at #1 on the "Billboard 200" and was, with 613,000 copies sold in its first week, the highest-selling debut for a solo artist in 10 years. The album received RIAA Double Platinum certification November 17, 2003 and has sold more than 2,750,000 units to date. The album spawned both the hit single "Invisible" and his first hit song, "This Is the Night". Later that year, Aiken won the Fan's Choice Award at the American Music Awards ceremony, and his CD single "This Is the Night/Bridge Over Troubled Water" won the Billboard award for the Best-selling Single of 2003.

Aiken appeared in numerous television specials during the winter of 2003, including Disney's Christmas Day Parade and The Nick At Nite Holiday Special, where he sang a duet with Bing Crosby via special effects. The song was "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth," which was originally sung by Crosby and David Bowie on a 1977 Christmas special.

Aiken has been the subject of gay jokes by Conan O'Brien, Kathy Griffin, and Mad TV, among others. While a few communities among his internet fan sites speculate about his sexual orientationOpenly Clay message board</ref>, many do not. In an interview with Rolling Stone in June 2003 Aiken stated that he is not gay. When he appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 7, 2004, he lampooned such speculation in the opening monologue, which featured him as a member of a gay men's chorus.[3]

In 2004, he was appointed United States Fund for UNICEF National Ambassador, with a mission to help ensure that children everywhere are afforded a primary education.[4] Through his work with UNICEF, he participated in the NBC4 telethon, which raised over $10 million, and recorded public service announcements in support of South Asian tsunami relief. He later recorded a video, featuring the song "Give a Little Bit," to be used as a public service announcement (PSA) to raise money for tsunami victims.

In March 2005, UNICEF sent Aiken to tsunami-stricken Banda Aceh area to raise awareness for the need to restore education quickly to the children who survived this disaster, in order to provide stability in a time of great loss. In April 2005, on behalf of UNICEF, he appeared before the United States House of Representatives Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations.[5] In May 2005, UNICEF sent Aiken on another mission, to northern Uganda, to witness the plight of children called "night commuters," who flee the villages each night to sleep in streets and shelters in hopes of avoiding being kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army [LRA].

Aiken was the 2005 spokesperson for the Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF drive.

Aiken's fans

Some of Aiken's fans have been referred to as "Claymates," a name that originated on the message boards during the second season of American Idol. However, the term is not embraced by all within the fandom and some portion of the group has been criticized at times as being obsessive, both in the media and by Aiken himself.[6] In most cases, however, Aiken defends his fans as just being "enthusiastic". Another variation for Canadian fans is "Claynadians" and for Asian Clay fans, "Claysians." Male fans began their own group and call themselves "The ClayDawgs". The umbrella name including all of his many fan groups is "The Clay Nation." The fandom includes a wide range of ages.

Aiken was voted the Favorite Reality Star of 2003 by TV Guide readers, and ?the most-loved reality star of all time? in a TV Guide poll conducted in the summer of 2005. [7]
In February 2006 Aiken was voted "Favorite American Idol" by People Magazine with 69% of the vote.

Tours

2003: The American Idol Tour

• 40-City U.S. Tour (June - August 2003)
• Two-month arena tour starring American Idol 2 finalists.

2004: The Independent Tour, co-headlining with Kelly Clarkson

• 40-City U.S. Tour (February - April 2004)
• Kelly and Clay opened and closed the concert on alternate dates. Each concert ended with a duet of "Open Arms".
• The opening act was The Beu Sisters.

2004: The Not a Tour 2004 Summer Solo Tour

• 50-City 2 hour U.S. Tour (July - September 2005)
• The "2004 Summer Tour"'s official sponsor was Disney, marking their first sponsorship of a concert tour.
• At each concert a video was shown that previewed Clay's performance of "Proud of Your Boy," which was included in Disney's DVD re-release of "Aladdin"; the video also featured the work of the DisneyHand and Bubel-Aiken Foundation charities.
• Opening acts were Cherie for the first half of the tour and Ben Jelen for the second half.

2004: The Joyful Noise Tour

• 28-City Holiday concert 2 hour concert (November - December 2004)
• Featured 30 piece orchestras as well as both adult and children's choirs invited from each host city
• The "Joyful Noise Tour"'s official sponsor was Ronald McDonald House Charities.

2005: The JukeBox Tour

• 26-City tour of cities mostly in the eastern U.S. and Toronto (July - September 2005)
• 2 1/2 hour show including music from each decade from the 50's to the 2000's, including some current and future releases planned by Clay.
• Over 70 songs were included in this concert, some incorporated as medleys from each decade.
• There was no opening act; however, each of the 3 backup singers contributed a solo and some spotlight segments to the concert.

2005: The Joyful Noise 2005 Tour

• 36-City, 40-Concert U.S. and Canada tour (November - December 2005)
• The concert featured a traveling cast of actors, singers, and dancers, as well as a supporting cast recruited from each host city, to provide the theatrical component that threaded together the musical performances.
• The opening act and contributing musician was pop-classical pianist William Joseph

Awards and nominations

American Music Awards

• 2003: Won - Fan's Choice Award
• 2003: Nominated - Favorite Male Artist - Pop or Rock

Billboard Awards

• 2003: Won - Best Selling Single of 2003 - "Bridge Over Troubled Water / This Is The Night"
• 2004: Won - Best Selling Christmas Album - Merry Christmas With Love
• 2005: Won - Best Selling Christian Album - Merry Christmas With Love

New Music Weekly Awards

• 2004: Won - Top40 Male Artist of the Year

American Christian Music Awards

• 2005: Won - Outstanding Yule CD - Merry Christmas With Love

Discography

Albums

Album information
	Measure of a Man Released: October 14, 2003 Peak Chart Positions: #1 US U.S. sales: 2.7 million RIAA Certification: 2x Platinum (November 17, 2003)	Singles Released Invisible The Way I Will Carry You
	Merry Christmas with Love Released: November 9, 2004 Peak Chart Positions: #4 US U.S. sales: 1.2 million RIAA Certification: 1x Platinum (January 6, 2005)	Singles Released n/a

Singles released to retail

Retail Singles information
	Bridge Over Troubled Water / This Is The Night Released: June 10 2003 Peak Chart Positions: #1 US Debut RIAA Certification: 1x Platinum (July 15th, 2003)
	The Way / Solitaire Released: March 2004 Peak Chart Positions: #4 US U.S. sales: 322,000

Videos released to retail

Video information
	A Clay Aiken Christmas Released: Dec 10 2004 RIAA Certification: Gold (December 09th, 2005)

Singles charting on radio

• 2003 "This Is The Night"
• 2003 "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
• 2003 "Invisible"
• 2003 "The First Noel"
• 2003 "Silver Bells" featuring Kimberley Locke
• 2004 "The Way"
• 2004 "I Will Carry You"
• 2004 "Solitaire"
• 2004 "Winter Wonderland"
• 2004 "Hark the Herald Angels Sing / O Come All Ye Faithful"
• 2004 "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
• 2004 "Mary, Did You Know?"
• 2004 "O Holy Night"

References

External links

Official websites

• Official Clay Aiken Fan Club website

• Official RCA website

• Clay Aiken at the Internet Movie Database

Fansites

• Clay Nation News - newsletter subscription
• Finding Clay Aiken - with a listing of Clay related sitesfi:Clay Aiken