2003: PRESS & MEDIA

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Clay Aiken Takes Washington By Storm
STEPHEN M. SILVERMAN
and CANDIE JONES
   
America's almost "Idol" Clay Aiken ventured to America's capital Tuesday to emphasize his other passion beyond singing -- education, reports PEOPLE.
And he was one busy guy. After a closed-door meeting with officials at the U.S. Department of Education (including Education Undersecretary Eugene Hickok and Assistant Secretary for Special Education Bob Pasternack), Aiken said: "Since I've had to put my own work with special needs kids on hold for now, I am excited to do what I can to support worthwhile educational efforts, particularly those which reach kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks."
The 24-year-old crooner later went up to the Capitol with members of the American Film Institute to discuss the institute's K-12 Screen Education Center program.
Aiken, in D.C. as part of the "American Idols Live Tour," also took a private tour of the White House and stopped in to pay a surprise visit to his home state senator, Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina).
Nicely dressed in a suit, the lanky Southerner sang "Happy Birthday" to Dole, who turned 67. It was the first time the two had met.
As for the concert, The Washington Post critic adored Aiken, extolling his "epic voice and flirty ways" and calling him the evening's winner, "if not the show's."
The Post also had nice things to say about "AI" champ Ruben Studdard, 25, saying that he has "charm."    

PEOPLE MAGAZINE ARTICLE

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"Idol" chat ...

Alex Moshenko, 10, of Amherst recently had a chance to meet his idol, and Clay Aiken left a lasting impression. Aiken was the runnerup in this spring's "American Idol" television show talent contest and Alex, who is autistic, had longed to meet him. "It was more than special, it was a moment Alex will never forget," said his mother, Monica Moshenko. Aiken just happened to be playing HSBC Arena on July 19, which was Alex's 10th birthday. His mother had written to Aiken asking for a backstage meeting.
"Clay came in, walked up to Alex and said, "Hi, how are you doing?" Moshenko said. "Alex's eyes just lit up. Clay then asked him about school. Alex was thrilled." Moshenko asked Aiken to tape a public service announcement for the Buffalo Niagara Walk for Autism on Sept. 14. Aiken, who studied special ed in college, agreed. "Clay's really a nice guy," Moshenko said.

BUFFALO NEWS ARTICLE

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Fans gear up for Clay to come home
Updated: 8/5/2003 9:50 AM
By: Heather Moore & Web Staff

Fans are snatching up Clay Aiken T-shirts as the "American Idol Tour" heads to the Triangle.  

As Clay Aiken gears up to come home Wednesday, fans are literally gearing up to welcome him.

Fans stocked up on tons of Clay Aiken merchandise during his run for "American Idol" and now with the "American Idol Tour" hitting the Triangle this week, hometown fans want the world to know Clay is still their idol.

PKD Screen Printing is the only company authorized by Aiken to make official Clay Aiken stuff and they’ve been so swamped with orders, they have a Clay coordinator, whose job is to fill fans’ Clay needs.

“We’ve sold shirts to every state in the United States,” owner Paulette Disbrow said. “We’ve sold to Canada. We’ve sold to Great Britain. We’ve sold to New Zealand.”

“About two weeks before the concerts in other places, they start calling and placing their orders to make sure they get their T-shirts in time for the concerts,” coordinator Deanne Phillips said.

Fans stocked up on tons of Clay Aiken merchandise during his run for "American Idol" and now with the "American Idol Tour" hitting the Triangle this week, hometown fans want the world to know Clay is still their idol.

Concertgoers won’t find official Clay Aiken merchandise at the concert Wednesday night. There, they'll only find "American Idol" items so fans are coming in now to get their Clay Aiken gear early so they can wear it to the concert.

“Everybody wants the blue concert T-shirt to wear to the concerts,” Phillips said. “These ladies from Virginia had been on vacation in Kentucky, went home, spent the night, got up the next morning and came to Raleigh to pick up Clay Tshirts just to be ready for the concert.”

“The thing that touches me about Clay is he's reached the human soul in a way that none of the great evangelists, none of the politicians have been able to do in my lifetime,” Disbrow said.

A portion of the proceeds from Clay's official gear goes to the Autism Society of North Carolina and the YMCA.

Disbrow said the company has already contributed more than $13,000 to Clay's charities.

RDU NEWS 14 ARTICLE

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"Idols" grow closer without show competition
LEIGH DYER
The Charlotte Observer

In a recent telephone interview from New York as the concert tour was wending its way to North Carolina, Aiken, 24, spoke to The Observer about his life since "American Idol." (His words are edited for length and clarity).

Q. Reviewers of your concerts have said that when you come out on stage to sing your first song, the screaming gets so loud it drowns out your singing. What goes through your head when that happens?
'Please be quiet so I can hear my song.' (laughs) They added some microphones in the auditorium to pick up the audience. I asked them, 'Can you take the audience out of my monitor? Because I can't hear my music.' And he said, 'You're going to have to get used to it, because I already took them out.' It's just a lot of energy for the last three of us who sing. There are some loud screams.

Q. I've also heard you've gotten some underwear thrown at you on stage. (Laughs) I have gotten a few panties. It did surprise me. I went, 'What in the world? This has to be for somebody else.'
I've also gotten two pairs of Depends. They have notes attached that say, 'From your older fans. We love you too.' People are very creative. I think they're doing it to embarrass me. No matter how many times it happens, I always blush. Ruben always makes fun of me.

Q. Are you guys staying pretty good friends during the tour?
Everybody is actually probably closer. We're not going through all the competition and stress of the show anymore. Nobody's getting voted off of the tour. Everybody's pretty laid back and easygoing, so we're really getting along extremely well.

Q. Before the show and this tour, you hadn't had the opportunity to do much traveling, had you?
I had not done any, really. Just like the show, everything has been fast, furious and trial by fire. I went through the show and had all of the experience of being on TV all of a sudden, really quick. And now I'm having all of this traveling happening really fast. I don't think I've been in the same city to sleep for more than one night yet.
In Washington I got to go to the White House and Capitol Hill. I'd never been there before at all. I used to want to be a politician back in school.
I met Bob Dole -- he knew a lot of information about what had happened on the show. I guess after you retire you have more free time to watch "American Idol."

Q. What are you looking forward to doing the most in N.C.?
Just seeing family and friends. "Primetime Live" is in Raleigh for three days because they're filming a special (about me) for sometime in September. I'm doing a lot of filming while I'm at home.

Q. What's the music like on your upcoming album? A lot of it is similar to "This is the Night." It's not a huge departure for me. It remains true to who I am and my character. Nobody has to turn the radio down when the kids are in the car. It's a pop sound. There are some upbeat, catchy pop songs, like the one song "Invisible" that I do on the tour. There are a few things that are reminiscent of some Steve Perry stuff. And then there are some covers. "Solitaire" is hopefully going to be on the album.

Q. Between your song hitting No. 1 on the charts and now the concert tour, it seems you really are living the life of a pop star. Is it everything you thought it would be?
It's been more than I thought it would be, really. Sometimes I used to think they had it easy. All they have to do is go up and sing a song, and they get paid for it. I am wrong about that. It's a lot more work and less sleep than I thought it would be.
I'm just amazed at the amount of support that people have shown, and how enthusiastic the fans are.
I'm so thrilled to be coming back to North Carolina. It's going to be quite a show.

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER ARTICLE

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Recall Ruben
If the American Idol Winner Broke the Rules, Let’s Demand a New Vote
CommentaryBy Heidi Oringer Aug. 14

As the only person not running for governor of California, I'm demanding a recall vote — not in the Golden State gubernatorial race, but in American Idol.
 
American Idol winner Ruben Studdard should have his title revoked if he really did receive money in exchange for wearing 205 Flava Inc. shirts during his appearances on the Fox talent competition, as has been reported. Contestants on the TV show are banned from accepting outside contracts, according to a statement by Michael Jaffa, vice president of business and legal affairs for American Idol Productions Inc. A lawsuit recently filed by Willie and Frederick Jenkins, owners of the Birmingham, Ala.-based 205 Flava Inc. clothing company, contends Studdard approached them with the idea of receiving a fee in exchange for donning their duds on national television. The designers contend Studdard asked for compensation totaling $10,000. They also claim checks were written for $1,000 a week. These eventually escalated to $1,500 per week as Studdard advanced in the competition, the suit says. The Jenkinses go on to allege that these checks were made out to Studdard's brother and manager to keep the paper trail from leading back to the singer. This legal wrangling originally began with a suit filed by Studdard himself, who alleged the Jenkins brothers were using his image for profit. Studdard's suit contends that 205 Flava Inc. kept his photo on its Web site, which has enabled the company to garner more than $2 million in sales. Thus far, both suits have been filed in court and the Jenkinses' lawyer, LaVeeda Morgan Battle, held a news conference where she revealed what she said were copies of the checks to Studdard's brother. Studdard has yet to respond to the allegations on his own. His attorney, Byron Perkins, has told The Associated Press, "The public will hear from us soon," and has declined further comment. Ron Edwards, Studdard's personal manager, told me likewise, saying, "No comment pending things we're working on." Producers of the show are equally tight-lipped. "We don't comment on the contestants' personal lives," said Eric Green at 19 Television. So, where do we go from here? Other Contestants Got the Boot In case there are 10 people out there who haven't watch the show and don't know, it's important to note that other contestants have been kicked off American Idol for various infractions. Franchelle Davis, aka Frenchie, was given the heave-ho because she had appeared topless and posed in a lurid manner on a Web site. Frenchie contended that she was over 18 when she posed for the photo and that she did it to help pay her way through college. She didn't, however, make mention of this little impropriety when she tried out for the competition. When producers found out, they banished her from the show. Another contestant, Corey Clark, got the boot after producers learned that he had been arrested on three misdemeanor counts, which included battery (the alleged victim was his teenage sister), criminal restraint and resisting arrest. Clark was eventually dismissed, but not before he was given the opportunity to explain to the viewers that his banishment came as a result of not being honest with the producers. Apparently, had he confessed his legal predicament when he was originally being considered, he would have been allowed to continue. The same is supposed to be the case for Frenchie. Let the People Decide The fact of the matter is, if Ruben actually violated the rules of the show, then regardless of his immense (no pun intended) talent, he should relinquish his title. But to whom — the second-place contestant, Clay Aiken? Not necessarily. You see, this show, which has become a phenomenon, is supposed to represent more than just a shot at fame for a talented few. It has separated itself from other such competitive shows by allowing the American public to be the decision makers. Millions of people tuned in each week to watch their favorite performers and hundreds of thousands of those folks took the time to call in and vote, to give the one they thought most worthy a chance at fame and fortune. Frenchie's Web involvement and Corey's arrest did not make them any less talented as individuals. Nor does Ruben's alleged profiting from wearing a jersey make him any less of a singer. But the question is: Were rules violated, lines crossed, regulations dishonored? If Frenchie and Corey would have been allowed to continue in the competition, who knows what the outcome would've been? If it's proven that Ruben did benefit financially for wearing the 205 shirts, then what should happen? What if this had been revealed while the show was going on, wouldn't he have been eliminated along with Frenchie and Corey? I know there are a lot of woulda-coulda-shoulda items here, but something fishy is going on, and the American Idol that America chose may not be someone to be idolized after all. Time will tell as more details unfold, but if in fact the claims against Studdard are true, then we've been foiled once again by reality TV. As Simon Cowell would say of a first-round American Idol reject, "It's appalling."  

Heidi Oringer is director of entertainment programming at ABCNEWS Radio.

ABC NEWS EDITORIAL

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N.C. happy for, if bemused by, its 'Idol'
Charlotte cheers loudly for returning college boy Clay Aiken, but classmates are a little puzzled by the fuss
By Erik Spanberg | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A little less than 12 hours before Clay Aiken will take the stage with the rest of his "American Idol" colleagues at the sold-out Charlotte Coliseum, he stands in a nondescript radio-station conference room surrounded by adoring female fans and the city's mayor.
"What a great role model for Charlotte, for North Carolina, and for the whole country," says Mayor Patrick McCrory, after declaring Aug. 8 as Clay Aiken Day. McCrory reads a proclamation and then gets down to business. He snares an autograph and a photo of his niece, Molly, with Aiken, the unlikely, gawky heartthrob known for his carrot-top coiffure and Broadway-meets-pop crooning.
The nine Idol alums touring arenas this summer - led by Ruben Studdard, who beat runner-up Aiken by less than 1 percent out of 24 million votes - now find themselves in the role of conquering heroes in their hometowns of Birmingham and Raleigh, N.C., respectively. Charlotte, the largest city in the state, staked claims of its own because Aiken attended the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.
Somehow, Fox TV's blend of glorified karaoke and high-school talent show entranced millions of viewers. Studdard and Aiken have scored hit singles, though airplay has plummeted precipitously for each since the second "Idol" show left the air in May. Both have albums coming out later this year: Studdard with Clive Davis's J Records and Aiken with RCA Records.
The 39-city "American Idols Live!" tour, wrapping up on Aug. 31, scored sellouts in Raleigh and Charlotte this month. The Idol tour is sponsored by Pop-Tarts, but no one, save Rolling Stone, seems cognizant of the joke. Ninety minutes before show time, Aiken runs around the side of the arena to wave hello at a line of fans snaked halfway around the building. A mob of veteran Pop-Tart shoppers surges forward before Clay makes his getaway.
Backstage, several of the female Idols - Trenyce, Carmen Rasmusen, Kimberly Caldwell, and Julie DeMato - are kibitzing in sweats and T-shirts.
Nearly a year of media saturation has left them not quite jaded, but not quite wide-eyed, either. They swiftly dispense with a variety of queries, but grow weary when the topic of Clay arises. "[When we talk to fans], it's 'How has the whole experience been? Are you tired? And where's Clay?" Ms. DeMato says. Ms. Caldwell quickly corrects her: " 'Where's Clay' is always first, then the other two."
No one seems resentful, but Aiken, despite finishing second, has become the most popular Idol, even surpassing Studdard, the rotund teddy-bear champ.
Aiken's routine now includes regular meet-and-greets with fans and the media. He's accompanied by a bodyguard who resembles an NFL linebacker and a petite publicist who is a cross between Bridget Jones and Lucky Star-era Madonna. Both keep Aiken on a strict schedule, and both serve as caddies for the array of stuffed animals, colognes, and other gifts that fans bestow on him.
Angela Coachman and Amy Pusey, a pair of 22-year-old UNC-Charlotte graduates, were among the Clay admirers, wearing form-fitting red shirts to the show. They both majored in special education, like Aiken, and attended class with him every day for several years. "He was always the class clown," Ms. Pusey says, grinning. "He was the only guy in every class - it's a small major and it's all girls - and Clay was always joking around."
Did last month's Rolling Stone cover boy have many admirers in college? "He had lots of friends," Ms. Coachman says. "I'm sure he's not having any trouble with girlfriends ... now."
Even so, Aiken resonates much more with the Sela Ward-Lifetime gang than the Reese Witherspoon-"Friends" set. Judging by the arena crowd, the combination of geeky chutzpah and hammy showman is a winner among middle-aged moms.
Kimberley Locke, a 25-year-old administrative assistant from Nashville who became an Idol alongside Aiken, knew where matters stood in Charlotte.
"We're in Clay Town, obviously," Locke says onstage, eliciting an overwhelming, and sustained roar as she introduced him. Aiken emerged from beneath the stage, sporting a natty black suit, purple tie, and a grin reminiscent of Alfred E. Neuman. He launched into "This Is the Night," a soaring pop ballad that melds Barry Manilow with Andrew Lloyd Webber. With dry ice flowing over the stage, Aiken's by-the-numbers moves - arms spread wide, hands clasped over his heart - produced thunderous squeals. "There's no place like home, that's for sure," he said after several minutes of applause. "I am amazed."
For his former classmates, the $30 Clay T-shirts and $10 Clay posters (to say nothing of the throngs of self-proclaimed Claymates) seem just as hard to fathom.
"It's weird to think that all these people are here to see Clay," says Pusey. "I'm happy for him, but he still seems like the same old Clay, y'know?"

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

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American Idols are idling on radio playlists
Kevin Johnson - Post-Dispatch Pop Music
08/16/2003

Thank "American Idol" for re-inventing the amateur talent show, not to mention inspiring a raft of inferior imitations.

But, despite the proliferation of talent contests, "American Idol" remains the best. For two seasons, with a third on the way in January, we've grown accustomed to — even to love — Simon Cowell's bitchy barbs, Randy Jackson's insufferable "dawgs," Paula Abdul's constant tears and Ryan Seacrest's tousled hair. They are the constants in a weekly musical drama featuring fame-seeking singers giving their all — even when they have nothing to offer.

Sure, "American Idol" has spawned its share of bombs. The "From Justin to Kelly" movie and Justin Guarini's CD vanished quickly — thankfully. But most of what comes out of the "American Idol" camp is sunny and successful from season one champ Kelly Clarkson's hit CD to the quick sales of singles from Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken to the hot "American Idols Live!" tour coming to Savvis Center Sunday night.

The franchise is at the top of its game.  So why hasn't radio tuned in?

Regardless of how popular "American Idol" CDs and singles are in record stores, the music can't catch a break on radio, including St. Louis airwaves. Radio is the consistent hitch in the "American Idol" onslaught. The notable exception is Clarkson, who's accepted at pop and adult contemporary stations. But the others are suffering, including the top two from the show's second season, Studdard and runner-up Aiken, along with Guarini.

When Aiken and Studdard released double-sided singles of their songs "This Is the Night" / "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and "Flying Without Wings" / "Superstar," respectively, sales figures startled the record industry. Aiken was good for 393,000 copies his first week out, while Studdard brought in 286,000 copies. Those CD singles flew off the shelves, while many radio programmers looked the other way.

On Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, Aiken is enjoying his eighth week on top, while Studdard is No. 3. But on the Hot 100 Airplay chart, neither artist is listed.

One local Aiken fan, Ami Christianson of Glendale, called it an "American Idol" taint. "A lot of DJs see 'American Idol' as a cheesy show and have this idea (the contestants) haven't paid their dues yet. This instant stardom doesn't make it legit. But what's legitimate and what's not? Who decides who's good and who isn't," says Christianson, who has never heard a song by an American Idol on the radio.

"The public wants to listen to this, or they wouldn't be buying it," says Christianson.

So why has radio shunned "American Idol" music? Some say the music isn't good enough, doesn't fit in with what's hot or that the show is just a fad. Others suggest the music doesn't work outside of the context of the TV show.

"You can't deny a hit record," says Dwight Stone, program director at KATZ-FM (100.3 the Beat), one of a couple of stations in St. Louis playing Studdard's "Superstar."

But some of his on-air cohorts have decided you can.

KATZ's main competitor, WFUN-FM (Q95.5), isn't playing Studdard. A representative from the station said they were "waiting to see the development of the song. But we're big fans of Ruben's."

Taylor J. is music director at KSLZ–FM (Z107.7), the most likely home for "American Idol" music. But that's not what's happening there. "We're not touching those songs," says Taylor J. "That Ruben song is good, but it completely doesn't work with what we're doing. Neither does the Clay song. The songs aren't compatible with everything else that's going on."

Clarkson is what's going on at Z107.7, along with Justin Timberlake, Eminem, Avril Lavigne and Michelle Branch. Guarini never made the cut. "It was really unfortunate timing for him. The movie bombed, and, the same week, they wanted his song to break," says Taylor J.

It's just as tough for Studdard and Aiken. "The singles were disappointing. We were hoping what was produced out of the second 'Idols' would be closer to Kelly," she says. "It's beyond me why the producers and record companies aren't trying to do the same thing."

Z107.7 targets 18-to-34-year-olds, and Taylor J. believes those two songs sound older than their demographic. "Maybe the record company knows they already have 18-34 locked in, so they're trying to get the older audience, then come back to the core audience. We hope that happens," she says.

She has faith Studdard's CD will come through for them once she learned he's recording with rapper Fat Joe.

Greg Hewitt, music director at adult contemporary station KYKY-FM (Y-98), tested Studdard and Aiken's songs on air but didn't get much response. "I wasn't a big fan of either of those songs," Hewitt says.

That wasn't the case with Clarkson. "We played (Clarkson's first single) 'A Moment Like This.' At the time it was a novelty. Nobody knew what this girl was about, if she'd have a career. But of all the people on the show, she's the one who probably does. We had great success with (follow-up single) 'Miss Independent.' We're still playing it."

But Studdard and Aiken are a different story for Hewitt and Y-98. "There wasn't anything terribly special about either one of them. The good thing about 'Miss Independent' for us was that it was fun, upbeat and danceable. Clay's and Ruben's songs were a little 'schlocky.' They didn't have great appeal for our audience, and requests died down. Ruben didn't do anything different that made his song special, and Clay's song wasn't great."

But there's a different feeling at KATZ and KMJM-FM (Majic 105), sister stations to KSLZ, all owned by Clear Channel Radio. Stone says Studdard did a great job with "Superstar," which is played alongside hip-hop hits by David Banner and Bone Crusher. But stations with hip-hop formats are shying away because it sounds too old. Stations fear listeners will "punch out" because the record is too "ballady."

Though Stone wanted to take on Studdard's "Superstar," he didn't play it immediately. "At first I was the same way (as the other stations)," says Stone. But Stone allowed history to play a part in spinning Studdard. Before coming to St. Louis, Stone worked in Birmingham, Studdard's hometown. He remembers Studdard coming to the Birmingham station when he was part of the group Just a Few Cats.

Studdard asked Stone personally why he wasn't playing his new record. "Relationships go a long way. So I said I'll give it a shot. It doesn't make sense to watch someone grow and not give them a shot," says Stone.

But what if Stone didn't know Studdard? "That's hard to say, because I do know him. But all the stations playing it are doing well with it. You can't say it sounds too old. Look at Ron Isley. He's the oldest man in the game," says Stone of the lead singer of the Isley Brothers, who is still a force at R&B radio. "So don't be afraid to play the man who won the respect of the country but not the respect of the playlists."

Chaz Saunders, on-air personality at KMJM, says her station embraces "Superstar" because "American Idol" is so popular. "The whole 'American Idol' thing is the biggest thing people are talking about. It's huge. So I think if radio stations are going to play it, now is the time. The record is a good record. I hear a hit. We wouldn't be playing the record if it wasn't a hit," says Saunders. "The phones are going off the hook for it. People are calling for it."

"When it's your season, it's your season, and right now it's Ruben's season," adds Saunders. But she thinks the song could be bigger. "Ruben needs some work, some PR work."

Joe Litvag heads up the St. Louis offices of Anschutz Entertainment Group/Concerts West, which is promoting "American Idols Live." He chalks up the problem with radio to radio's strict formatting, playlists tightening by the day and big corporations dictating what stations must play.

"They can't think outside the box and play something they might not normally play. But if the product is solid enough, I think they'll play it," Litvag says. "Radio play, or lack thereof, has no effect on ticket sales. Sales are extremely strong. We've already surpassed paid attendance figures from last year."

With or without radio, Litvag believes that "each one of the 10 finalists from the second season has the chance to become stars in their own right."

ST LOUIS TODAY ARTICLE

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The American Idol runner-up talks about his new album, his friendship with Ruben and the power of Stevie Wonder
 By AMANDA ORR
 
"It's a lot of hard work," says Aiken about recording his first album, Measure of a Man.   
 
What's the measure of a man? If you're Clay Aiken, it's more than just a vote tally on American Idol. Ever since his second-place finish on FOX's hugely popular talent hunt (behind "velvet teddy bear" and good friend Ruben Studdard), the big-voiced 24-year-old from North Carolina has topped the charts with his single "Bridge Over Troubled Water/This Is the Night." Aiken is now finishing up work on his hotly anticipated debut album, Measure of a Man. PEOPLE caught up with Aiken while he was in Washington, D.C., lobbying lawmakers to support the American Film Institute's Screen Education Program. It's a subject close to Aiken's heart: He was on his way to a career as a special education teacher before competing for the Idol crown.

When will we get to hear your album?
Soon. We are very close to being done — almost finished. We're actually waiting on Ruben (Studdard) to finish because his album comes out first. We're best friends, but we want to make sure that we don't compete with each other.

So, you and Ruben actually are best friends?
Oh my goodness, yes. We see each other every day, but when we don't, we talk on the phone. Is making an album what you thought it would be? It's a lot of hard work. Ruben and I talk about how amazed we are when we listen to older albums like Stevie Wonder (made) back in the '70s. You think to yourself, Stevie Wonder had to sing that song all the way through from beginning to end — with the band, in one take, with no mistakes, because they couldn't cut and paste. It amazes me. And that's what surprised me, is how intricate the recording process is today. The microphones pick up any little difference between takes so you have to go back and record things over and over again. And you know, sometimes it gets a little old, especially when you're not singing the whole song. When I'm singing one line at a time, seven times in a row, I'm thinking, "I'm sick of that line, let's move on to the next one."

Who are you working with on the album?
Well, my album is solo, so there aren't any duets, but I'm working with a lot of amazing producers like Steve Morales — who wrote and produced for Enrique Iglesias and Shakira — Cathy Dennis, who wrote and produced Kelly Clarkson's "Before Your Love," and Desmond Child, who wrote a lot of Ricky Martin's biggest hits. I like that fact that every producer I've worked with is unique so they all bring something else to the table, and I learn something different from each one of them. (But) everything on the album is true to me. There is nothing that is inappropriate. It seems like pretty often I have to turn the radio down when somebody comes on. This is an album that you can play completely through without having to turn it down at all.    

After the album, what else is in your future?
I'd love to sing a duet with Faith Hill. I really want to sing one with her. I hope she reads this article. I know Simon said I should do Broadway, but it's not anything that I ever thought I'd be interested in. Maybe down the road I might consider it.

How are you adjusting to fame?
It still confuses me. Sometimes I just don't get it. Like today, I was did a press conference and there were fans there. And I was just never star struck personally.

Do you still get tips from judges Simon Cowell or Randy Jackson?
Nope, I don't. Randy helped us put the band together for the tour, and we got some really good advice from him about how to tour, and how to do a live show. That was really beneficial to us. Simon Cowell's record label is distributing the album when it goes international, so I haven't had any contact with him yet, but I will when that happens.

You seemed so confident on stage during the show. Were you nervous at all?
I was scared to death inside, but I told myself, "You can be nervous all you want to before and after, but while you're out there, you better hide it." Because if it shows, you'll get voted off.

What do you want people to say about the album when it comes out?
I want them to say, "I have seven copies."
 
PEOPLE MAGAZINE ARTICLE

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THE LONGEST 'NIGHT': Clay Aiken's "This Is the Night" / "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (RCA) becomes the longest-running No. 1 single from the "American Idol" franchise on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Sales chart, as it remains in pole position for the ninth consecutive week. The previous record-holder was the single "This Is the Night" succeeded, "God Bless the U.S.A." That song by the American Idol Finalists was on top for eight weeks in a row. The first "American Idol" single, "A Moment Like This" by Kelly Clarkson, ruled for five consecutive weeks in October-November 2002.

"This Is the Night" -- which has managed to retain its crown despite some extremely close competition from Korn's "Did My Time" and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday" -- has the longest consecutive run at No. 1 since Madonna's "Die Another Day" led the list for 11 weeks in a row from November 2002 through January 2003.

Aiken's tenure at No. 1 on Hot 100 Singles Sales faces a new threat, from another "American Idol" single. The spin-off series "American Juniors" comes to a conclusion Aug. 19, and the single "One Step Closer" (Jive) will debut next week. If the American Juniors debut at No. 1, it will be the third consecutive single from the Simon Fuller-created franchise to be No. 1 on the sales chart. The last time a non-"Idol" single was the best-selling single in the U.S. was the week of April 26, when "Picture" by Kid Rock featuring Sheryl Crow was in its 12th non-consecutive week at No. 1.

BILLBOARD

[Cruiser]

SINGING SENSATION CLAY AIKEN TO PERFORM HIS HIT SONG,
“THIS IS THE NIGHT,” LIVE ON ABC’S “MISS AMERICA” TELECAST SEPTEMBER 20

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – August 19, 2003 – “American Idol” singing sensation Clay Aiken -- who has catapulted to the top of the singles charts with “This Is the Night” -- will help kick off this year’s live “Miss America” telecast with a dazzling performance of his hit signature song. Emmy-winner Tom Bergeron, star of ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” and “Hollywood Squares” will host “Miss America’s” final night of glittering competition, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 (8:00-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.
Aiken, the 24-year-old Raleigh, North Carolina native, whose spectacular voice and boy-next-door charm won the hearts of millions of viewers who voted for him in the climactic “Idol” finale in May against eventual winner, Ruben Studdard, will take the stage on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall shortly before his debut CD on RCA Records hits the stores.
Aiken’s first single with his lush original song, “This is the Night,” and his towering rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” soared up the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number one. More than 392,000 copies were sold the first week, the highest one-week total of any single since Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” in 1997.
The busy singer has spent the summer on tour across America with “American Idols Live!,” even as he worked with legendary executive producer Clive Davis, “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller and a team of other top producers and songwriters to complete the recording of his first album, which is scheduled for release in October. He has also recently set up the Bubel-Aiken Foundation, an organization that helps integrate individuals with disabilities into programs that traditionally have been reserved for those without disabilities.
A special education major at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Aiken loves working with children and individuals with autism, and had an entirely different plan for his life mapped out when opportunity came knocking and he auditioned for the second season of “American Idol.”

As the world’s largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women and one of the nation’s leading achievement programs, The Miss America Organization made available more than $45 million in cash and tuition scholarship assistance last year. Based in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the Miss America Organization provides young women with a vehicle to further their personal and professional goals and instills a spirit of community service through a variety of unique nationwide community-based programs.
Additional information about the Miss America Organization can be found at http://www.MissAmerica.org/
Media who wish to cover the 2003 Miss America Competition can download a Press Credential package online at http://www.MissAmerica.org/news/presscred.asp.
For photography, contact PR@MissAmerica.org or call 609.345.7571

MISS AMERICA PRESS RELEASE

[Cruiser]

Aiken slips on Hot 100 chart - The Raleigh singer's single does better on the adult contemporary list

Friday, August 22, 2003 12:00AM EDT
By MATT EHLERS, Staff Writer

Clay Aiken's hit, "This is the Night," is tumbling down Billboard's Hot 100 chart while performing better on the adult contemporary meter. That conjures up a career-direction question for the Raleigh native and "American Idol" runner-up: Is he headed for a lifetime of opening for Celine Dion, or will he end up kickin' it with Justin Timberlake?
 
The Hot 100 chart uses a mixture of radio airplay and sales to determine the country's most popular songs. Lately the chart has been heavy with hip-hop and R&B acts such as 50 Cent and R. Kelly. This week Aiken's single "This is the Night," is No. 65, down from No. 58. It debuted at No. 1 when it was released in June.

Billboard's adult contemporary chart measures airplay on radio stations that appeal to a more mature crowd. Phil Collins hit No. 1 on the AC chart not long ago with "Can't Stop Loving You." This week "This is the Night" is No. 15, down from No. 13.

Although "This is the Night" is performing better on the AC chart than the Hot 100, it's too early to pigeonhole Aiken as an adult contemporary artist, said Sean Ross, editor in chief of Airplay Monitor, Billboard's radio magazine.

The pop-chart slippage is "more of a function of the record they decided to make," Ross said. "This is the Night" is a pop ballad that fits better alongside Collins than P. Diddy.

That could change with the release of a full-length album by Aiken, who came to national prominence via Fox's fan-voted TV talent show.
"Pop radio would like to have something to play other than 50 Cent and Nelly," said Ross, who believes the album will probably have a more contemporary sound than "This is the Night." If the songs sound like hits, pop radio will play them, Ross predicted.

The release date of Aiken's album has been pushed back several times, with Amazon now listing it as Oct. 14.  Joe Wade Formicola believes the record will be a smash, producing two top-10 singles. Formicola, operations manager and program director at adult-contemporary WRAL-FM (Mix 101.5), isn't big on chart labels.  "He's on all different kinds of charts," he said. "Nobody pays attention to them."

Formicola predicts that Aiken will find chart success similar to matchbox twenty and Sheryl Crow, artists whose tunes often become hits on multiple charts.

One tune from the album that has that potential is "Invisible," which already has been passed around the Internet. Aiken performs it regularly in concert.

"It doesn't sound like "This is the Night," said Chris Edge, program director at Top-40 WDCG-FM (G105). "It's a little bit quicker and hipper sounding."
Edge can imagine the song being performed by a number of artists, including Timberlake and Johnny Rzeznik , lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls. "I think that means it's a quality song."

Although he works in Aiken's hometown and would play the song no matter what, Edge said he would spin "Invisible" anywhere in the country.
"A hit is a hit," he said. "It's really good."

Staff writer Matt Ehlers can be reached at 829-4889 or mehlers@newsobserver.com.

NEWS & OBSERVER ARTICLE

[Cruiser]

Life After AI: News on Upcoming Albums from American Idol Contestants
by L.C. Lee -- 08/26/2003

It seems like news is breaking almost every day about one former American Idol contestant or another. L.C. brings it all together to get us up to date on Clay, Ruben, Kim Locke, Trenyce, Vanessa, Nikki, and more!

Good thing American Idol 3 isn’t starting until January, because the TV show seems to be churning out idols much faster than the idols themselves can record their albums. As David Bloomberg mentioned in a previous article, the current projected release dates for Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard’s debut albums are October 14 and November 11, respectively. While some Clay and Ruben fans have emailed me expressing their outrage over the repeated delays, pushing back a release date is fairly standard with musical releases these days. I think it’s quite a feat that Clay and Ruben will likely both have albums completed within five months after the end of AI2.

Beyond all the release date hoopla, I’ve put together a rundown of recent news and insights regarding the upcoming albums from Clay, Ruben, and other American Idol finalists.

Clay Aiken: In addition to information provided earlier in my article previewing Clay’s album, a cover of Leo Sayer’s “When I Need You” has been added to the self-titled album. Not sure why Clay feels the need to cover this particular song, considering we’ve already heard cover versions from Rod Stewart and Celine Dion. This song is borderline cheese, but should allow Clay to showcase his phenomenal belting range.

A new clip of Clay’s “I Will Carry You” has been leaked to Promosquad.com, and I am liking this song even more after hearing this clip. A bridge, with a sudden crescendo, has been added. Very nice added touch, which keeps the song from sounding too formulaic. With this new version being leaked, it leads me to believe that the clips that surfaced at Pickthehits.com last week could be headed back into the lab for further mixing. If this is the case, it’s nice to see that Clive Davis/RCA have emphasized quality control.

Much to the delight of Claymates I’m sure, Clay has confirmed that there will be no duets on his album. A Clay & Ruben duet on Ruben’s album is still a possibility, but no word on it since Simon Fuller brought up the idea in June.

I have received a flurry of emails from Claymates regarding the possibility of a Grammy nomination for Clay. I’m no expert on the Grammy scene, but I do think that Clay deserves strong consideration for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “This Is the Night.” It doesn’t look like there’s too much competition this year – there are some big names (Luther Vandross, Brian McKnight, R. Kelly, Craig David, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer), but none of their releases were anything mind-blowing. Clay should have a shot. And quite frankly, Clay’s “This is the Night” is the best male pop vocal performance of the year. That said, bias in the music business may keep him out of the running.

American Idol Christmas CD: A Christmas CD featuring American Idol contestants is currently scheduled to be released October 14 (I’ve also heard November, so it could get pushed back) and is tentatively titled Idol Christmas. Clay, Ruben, Tamyra, Justin Guarini, Kelly Clarkson, and possibly more will be recording songs for the album. Justin has already recorded “I’ll be Home for Christmas” for the CD. I imagine the 19 Entertainment cross promotion machine will be marketing the X-Mas CD on the coattails of Clay’s and Ruben’s upcoming albums.

For those who have emailed me inquiring about the American Idol tour special on Fox, a date has been scheduled: September 24. Just in time to promote Clay’s and Ruben’s upcoming albums. How convenient.

This should prove to be an interesting fall/winter as several idols are graduating from reality TV contestants to professional recording artists. Will they be able to kick down the door and prove their worth as legitimate artists? Or will doors be slammed on them due to the stigma of being associated with a manufactured talent show? Only time will tell…

READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE

[Cruiser]

And The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth!
Entertainment Weekly

At some point since the cheesy early Guarini-esque ballads, the ubiquitous Ford Focus commercials, and the sad-sack lone dance move (you know the one, the shoulder pump crossed with the knee bend), ''American Idol'' runner-up Clay Aiken has become one of the most natural, confident, and addictive voices in contemporary pop music.
And thanks to his ''superstar Eye''-popping physical makeover and his show-stopping vocal range, he's emerged as the biggest star from ''Idol'''s second season.
Earlier this summer, his debut release, ''This Is the Night''/''Bridge Over Troubled Water,'' shot straight to No. 1 on the Billboard charts, trounced the offering from ''American Idol'' winner Ruben Studdard by 200,000 copies, and became the fastest-selling single since Elton John's ''Candle in the Wind 1997.'' ''I was going to be a teacher or a principal,'' Aiken, 24, says of his pre-''Idol'' plans. ''Thank Jesus I came back for the wild-card show!''
We'll give up a hallelujah as well. With the Backstreet Boys MIA and Justin Timberlake essentially an R&B artist, the world needs a new prince of pop. ''There's a lot of singers that have incredible instruments,'' says Steve Ferrera, RCA Records' senior vice president of A&R, who, along with mogul Clive Davis and ''Idol'' creator Simon Fuller, is helping to oversee Aiken's musical output. ''Clay is one of those rare singers who has the chops, but he's also able to make the connection to the lyric. So when some people might be just doing vocal histrionics, he's imbuing the lyric with passion and feeling.''
Although cuddly crooner Studdard won the right to release his CD first, the pair's labels, RCA and J Records, have now pulled a Rehnquist and reversed America's decision, opting to debut Aiken's album on Oct. 14, a month before Studdard's. ''It was with Ruben's blessing,'' insists a rep for both singers, adding that Studdard isn't finished recording yet. ''He didn't want to hold up Clay's record.'' That's the noncynical take. Here's another: ''Idol'' execs recognized they were wrong to throw so much weight behind Studdard during the competition. (Some speculated they did so because they were afraid to be put in the position of having to back Aiken, who was rumored to be gay. The singer has said he is straight.)
Publicly, ''Idol'' judge Simon Cowell says marketing Aiken is a no-brainer. ''He is the clean-cut American boy, and he has the advantage of being able to appeal to 3-year-olds and 80-year-olds with pretty much pure pop music.'' Aiken's life story, which resonates with so many, is also a draw. ''If I was naming Clay's album, I'd call it 'The American Dream,' because he encapsulates all of that,'' Cowell says. ''He is the American dream, which is the geeky little kid who went on to win over the hearts of America through a singing competition.'' (Start lobbying, Simon: Aiken has yet to decide on an album title.)

(This is an online-only excerpt of Entertainment Weekly's Sept. 5, 2003, cover story.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

[Cruiser]

The Un-Star System
The 10,000 kids who swarmed the Javits Center last week weren't just angling for American Idol-dom. They were rallying against the record industry.
By Simon Dumenco
 
Somewhere in the jumble of bodies sprawled across the sidewalks outside the Javits Center, there is, quite possibly, a future American Idol. It’s after midnight on Monday, August 25, the day of the New York auditions for the third season of the Fox-network megahit, and as I check out this rather astonishing encampment of thousands of kids on sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses—even in pup tents—I’m thinking about how elusive star quality is these days.
Nobody would have been able to pick last season’s winner and runner-up out of a lineup, either. Ruben Studdard is an obese food addict whose face, in performance, is perpetually streaked by rivers of flop sweat. Clay Aiken is an underfed, flappy-eared Fievel Mousekewitz look-alike whose pants always seem like they’re about to slide off his non-hips. But both can sing real pretty.
The kids here at the Javits seem so boundlessly optimistic that, honestly, it embarrasses me. They have something like abject longing in their faces. It’s a vastly different sort of longing, though, from what you’d see among the encampments that form outside concert venues before, say, Justin Timberlake tickets go on sale. The desire there is to engage in group worship. The desire here is to attain group worship.
For that reason, I realize, I find myself repeatedly looking away—exercising the same sort of denial mechanism that kicks in when homeless people attempt to make eye contact. These moppets—oh, man, look at that Christina Aguilera wannabe strumming her guitar on a blanket!—are so brazenly starving for attention that it’s unnerving. All this naked desire to be nakedly desired.
But, of course, American Idol amounts to much more than just the aggregated neediness of its most eager participants. As a mass phenomenon, it suggests multiple, intertwined orders of psychopathology: the culture at large gorging on hordes of fresh “talent.” A populace parodying the idea of democracy by choosing exactly the entertainment it wants (and deserves). And, perhaps most pointedly, the fame factory engaging in a sort of ritualized cycle of bingeing and purging.
You were hoping, perhaps, that the whole American Idol thing would have blown over by now. If so, you were probably heartened by the poor box-office showing, earlier this summer, of the breathtakingly lame Idol movie, From Justin to Kelly (starring the first-season’s runner-up and winner), and the generally lackluster ratings performance of American Juniors, the disturbing kiddie version of the show that just ended its first (and possibly only) season.
But these were mere spinoffs, attempts to leverage and milk the brand. The core product itself not only shows every sign of being unstoppable but may just permanently alter the way the music industry molds and markets talent.
Consider the stakes: 24 million votes (almost evenly split down the middle) poured in for Ruben and Clay during American Idol’s second-season finale in May—which drew 34 million viewers (more than the Oscars). Clay and Ruben then went on to score Top 10 singles. In fact, Clay’s “This Is the Night” held the No. 1 spot for ten weeks and went platinum in July, the first single this year to sell more than a million copies. (Platinum singles are surprisingly rare and hard-won. Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Part II,” for instance, took decades to turn platinum—it was one of only two singles certified platinum in 2001.) Clay’s sales are all the more staggering when you consider that his single doesn’t even have a video on MTV yet. (It’s currently in postproduction; Matthew Rolston shot it in mid-July.) Ruben, meanwhile, does have a Top 10 MTV video, and his single, already certified gold, is probably just weeks away from turning platinum, too. Both singers will release full-length albums—Clay in October, Ruben in November—that are guaranteed to be among the year’s uncontested blockbusters. And the “American Idols Live” tour, headlined by Ruben and Clay—and sponsored by, I’m not kidding you, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts—has packed arenas in 39 cities.
Even Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner—who would surely much rather be giving his buddy Mick Jagger five-star reviews than paying attention to all this American Idol nonsense—has succumbed to the marketing magic of Clay and Ruben. Over the years, Rolling Stone insiders have told me that male stars on the cover generally don’t do well on the newsstand, which is why everyone from Eminem to Justin Timberlake has had to up the ante by submitting to the homoerotic topless, baby-oiled treatment. Clay and Ruben (thank God!) didn’t have to take off their shirts to score their own Rolling Stone covers, in July and August, respectively, and Clay (both he and Ruben are Baptists) was even allowed to wear his own W.W.J.D. bracelet, surely a first for the magazine.
It’s entirely possible, of course, that Wenner assumed it stood for What Would Jann Do? The answer, obviously, is Follow the Money.
What’s most remarkable about the American Idol phenomenon is how quickly it has hijacked the recording industry. Producing legend Clive Davis is masterminding both singers’ records, Clay has lined up a cast of heavy-hitters to produce tracks, and Ruben has lured artists ranging from R. Kelly to Missy Elliott to serve as collaborators.
Talent has seemingly come out of nowhere before, but “nowhere” has almost always been the record industry’s farm system. Eminem, for instance, was hand-picked by an L.A. radio D.J. and carefully nurtured in the studio by rap impresario Dr. Dre before emerging, seemingly overnight, as a fully formed icon. Christina Aguilera spent years as a diva-in-training, putting in time as a Mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club and recording a laboratory-tested song for a Disney movie soundtrack before breaking out with “Genie in a Bottle.” Justin Timberlake was famously cast by a boy-band impresario in ’NSync—a band whose seemingly overnight success in the U.S. was actually the culmination of a phased roll-out in Europe during the mid-nineties. The bottom line is that most A-list artists require years, and millions of dollars, of investment.
Now we’ve got Clay and Ruben, whom nobody—not a soul in the record industry—had heard of before this spring, and they’re already on track to become among the best-selling recording artists of our time.
There’s a limit, of course, to how many American Idols can be churned out—and lots of people will argue that Clay and Ruben are mere flashes in the pan whose careers can’t possibly endure. But to the record industry, it really doesn’t matter if they quickly fade—and not only because Clay and Ruben are creating instant dynastic wealth for American Idol creator Simon Fuller (who also controls their recording careers) and his partners. (Watch for Ruben and Clay to bitterly recount the terms of their contracts on Behind the Music five or ten years from now; for instance, the singers reportedly get a mere $5,000 per stop on the Pop-Tart tour.)
Not only is American Idol a reality-TV blockbuster, but it’s harnessed the reality-TV genre to show the fast-fading recording industry a new path to riches: turning poorly paid nobodies into overnight pop-cultural icons, with virtually none of the usual behind-the-scenes primping and preening. Turns out the record industry’s star-making machinery becomes entirely irrelevant when you really let the market decide.
In the same way that network executives have had to get used to the idea that television—its aesthetics and its economics—has been permanently transformed by the reality-TV phenomenon, record executives are going to have to live with an infrastructure upended by the American Idol effect.
The farm system seems suddenly useless. Megastars, it turns out, can be born with hardly any help at all from the usual cabal of A&R guys, talent coordinators, publicists, and image consultants.
For now, the industry’s bingeing on American Idol’s spoils, but it’s pretty clear what—and who—is going to end up getting purged in the end.

NEW YORK METRO

EDIT - The video for This is the Night has reportedly been scrapped. - Cruiser

[Pamela]

"The hottest artists at Rollingstone.com for the week of Aug. 31, 2003."

1. Clay Aiken    

CHECK IT OUT!

[Cruiser]

The Idol from UNC-C
 - Wayne Cooper

Clay was crying in the Fox TV Red Room after his friend and fellow contestant, Kimberly, was voted off American Idol. He was holed up in there and needed time to compose himself before he could come out and face the Newsweek reporter milling around waiting to interview him. Simon the Judge, blew a whorl of smoke from his Kool cigarette, and made a comment that if there were actual tears coming from Clay, then the tears were tears of relief - that it was Kimberly and not him who was voted off the show. The cynical critic was not buying that Clay’s heart was breaking for Kimberly. But millions of fans, mostly women, believe that Clay’s sincerity is one of a kind; and many believe genuineness is one of the qualities that makes him so appealing.

For an artist, Clay’s fans are to die for. During his run on American Idol, there was an around the clock 24 hours a day/7days a week prayer chain for Clay; at any moment in time there was someone somewhere assigned to pray for Clay Aiken. One new mother named her son, Christopher Clayton - after Clay (A Fox TV producer convinced Clay to change his name from Clayton to Clay). High school girls say they are inspired to alter their attitudes toward the geeky kids at school because of Clay. Young boys are asking for a Clay when they go get their hair cut. There’s the Claymates, a group of girls and women whose ages range from 15 to 68. How about the Claynadians, fans from Canada? He has fans from all over the world. “Clay puts love and joy out there. He gets it back and gives it out again, That’s why we stay in love with him,” explains one of his legion. “And when he smiles he just has you smiling back. He is thoroughly enjoying himself and we enjoy him back.”

The passion of Clay’s fans rivals the Beatles’ in their heyday. At the height of Beatlemania, John Lennon complained that wherever they played, the disabled in their wheelchairs were always placed on the front rows, a wall of imperfect flesh, separating the group from the young healthy teenagers screaming for them. But there is no way you would ever hear Clay Aiken complain if the infirmed were occupying the front rows of his performances. On the contrary, he paid his dues with service to the needy out of his compassion, before he became famous, unlike the celebrities who make a public show of their charitable sides when the camera light turns red and a tax deduction plan is in the works. Some of Clay’s fans report that when he sang, they were freed emotionally and physically from areas of their lives that held them in bondage for years in prisons of misery. Mimi Shinn knows. Her teenage autistic son, Nicolas, was one of Clay’s charges when he was in the final throes of a special education degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She remembers the first time Clay showed up at their home: "There is something about Clayton - he just walks into a room and fills up the room," Mimi says.

Not so when he walked into the judges’ room of American Idol for the first time. "When he walked in, let's face it, he looked like he had two satellite dishes growing out of his head," said the show's co-executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe. There’s Clay, on the audition tape, feebly announcing to Simon and Randy, the show’s judges, that he is “the American Idol”, nervously shifting his weight from his toes to his heels, looking like what you’d expect the little brother of the Jerry Lewis character in The Nutty Professor to look like. Reedy, bespectacled, a goofish grinner with hidden assorted physical and psychological baggage. Clay’s fear of water is so intense that when the finalists of AI were touring the mansion in LA where they would be housed, he refused to go down the steps leading to the swimming pool. He’s allergic to coffee, chocolate, mint and shellfish. He required three cortisone injections to quell an allergic reaction just prior to his performance of Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It" on AI, after he inadvertently ate mint in a fruit salad. And he’s prone to eccentricity: it was reported on the TV show The View that he chews his toenails.

But Clay has a set of pipes and his stage presence is underestimated.
When he appeared on Oprah with Ruben, tears welled his eyes and both sides of his cheek muscles quivered like the hearts of unrequited lovers as he held the last note of his ballad. The audience collapsed into meltdown and Oprah took his hand in hers and preserved it with an extended period of tenderness - even for Oprah. Many point to his singing voice as the source of his appeal. Who can argue? Roger Shuford, the pastor of Leesville Baptist Church in Raleigh, where Clay sang and attended church, said, “It's amazing to watch him. When he feels a song you can see it all over his face.” One of his friends from Raleigh, Suzanne, writes on a Clay web site, “His voice is an incredible gift from God and he acknowledges that, and desires to share those gifts with the world.” Another NC friend, Cara, says, "I can remember all of the talent shows at summer camp where I would wait all summer just to hear the sound of Clay's voice. His voice takes me to another place. It is so inspirational.”

During an Idol show, when Clay had performed ‘Solitaire’, a teary-eyed Neil Sedaka, said of the haunting song he had penned before Clay was born, that from that day forward it would be remembered as a Clay song.
There are few voices as pure as Clay’s. Frances Wilson, a friend, said she first heard Clay sing in church when he was 13. "He blew me away. This tiny little boy with red hair and wire-rimmed glasses and a bow tie - and that incredible voice," she said. During an interview with Leigh Dyer of the Charlotte Observer, Clay’s mother, Faye Parker, talked about how Clay started singing “country music one-liners when he was less than a year and a half old. “The first song I remember him singing was ‘Mama Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys’. At the Sears store where she worked, he’d get a $1 from her co-workers to stand on a counter and sing. "I knew he had something special”, Parker says. “I knew God gave him a great voice.”

Friends who know him say his sense of humor is one of his most appealing traits. “Clay can make me pee in my pants on a regular basis. He is seriously one of the funniest guys I know,” says Christie. Meredith Cox, who worked with him at the A.E. Finley YMCA on Baileywick Road in Raleigh, says he has a wicked sense of humor. "These days, he really gets stereotyped as being this sweet Southern Baptist boy," Cox said. "He is all that, but he also is this really funny guy. He can just be really witty and sarcastic."

Clay never curses. He doesn’t believe in premarital sex either. He has a profound respect for his mother that is reminiscent of a young Elvis. He even legally changed the name he was born with, Grissom, to Aiken, the maiden name of his mother. But he credits his biological father for helping make him the man he is today. In an interview in Rolling Stone he says, “If I have anything good to say about him, it's that I think I learned to be who I am by being everything he wasn't,'' he said. “Part of the reason I don't smoke is that he did. He drank, and I don't. He's a racist, and I'm not. I don't want anything to do with any of that.''

Fortunately, he has different feelings for his step father, Ray Parker, whom he loves. And Clay was always Parker’s favorite singer. He encouraged him to sing and landed him a position in his brother’s country band when he was a teenager. Unfortunately Parker never saw Clay make it nationally: he died of lung disease just four months before Clay auditioned for American Idol. But not before he endued Clay with a groundedness that belies his 24 years.

"I'm really a person who likes stability," says the unlikely idol. "That's probably why I never pursued music, because there's no guarantees when it comes to music... of where your next paycheck's going to be, and all that type of stuff. I really appreciate the stability of working as a special ed teacher. To see my name in lights has never really been a dream of mine. I’m perfectly happy teaching. I really, honest to God, am.”

He admits he is the first person to be surprised with his astounding success. "It's been so fast paced, so exciting. I could have never dreamed this happening to me," he says. "It's been surreal. But I’ll be honest, when I got to the ‘X-Men’ premiere, and everyone’s looking at me, and when I go home and I’m on the front page of both the papers, there is a little bit of me that doesn’t want it to stop,” Aiken says. “After you’ve finally seen how cool it can be, it is kind of contagious. But what comes out of this is what God wants to happen. I totally rely on him to put me where He wants to put me and He did that. I never would have auditioned for something like this. He allowed this to happen to me.”

Clay’s mother, Faye, says she hopes the experience doesn’t change him too much and, no, he doesn’t have a steady girlfriend yet. From the millions of girls and women who adore Clay Aiken, the one who will hold his interest, in his own words, “I’m interested in a lady that is into helping other people and not one who is primped, and curled, and permed and very materialistic.”

A girl like his mother, no doubt.

COLLEGIATE STANDARD

[Cruiser]

American idol has local ties
by Colleen Lowry, Wake Weekly Staff Writer
May 1, 2003

Millions of American Idol fans have recently developed "Clay fever," supporting Raleigh's Clay Aiken in his quest for stardom, but one Youngsville woman has had the condition since her half-sister gave birth to Clay 24 years ago.
Donna McGhee, Clay's aunt, packs her car with Clay memorabilia each week to sell at the Raleighwood dinner theatre, where dozens of fans meet to watch Clay compete in one the nation's highest rated television shows.
American Idol is in its second season and more popular than ever. Tens of thousands of young adults auditioned before three judges in the entertainment industry to be selected for the next round in Hollywood. Viewers then vote to push their favorites into the final 12 and beyond. Those 12 perform each Tuesday night before a live studio audience, and the one who receives the fewest votes is eliminated from competition each week.
After Tuesday's performance this week, Clay was voted through to the final four.
It's showtime
"He's doing so good," McGhee says while watching him on the big screen. She is part of a group that religiously makes the weekly trek to Raleighwood to join a packed room of Clay supporters.
Every week Raleighwood is filled to capacity, McGhee said, and Tommy from the Bob and Madison's Showgram on G105 is there giving out prizes weekly.
"I am so glad to see all this support," McGhee said.
Clay is last to sing on this particular night, and when it's finally his turn, McGhee and her friend, Jean Hester, look over his outfit to see if he's wearing the clothes they advised.
"He finally listened!" Hester said. "That's what I told him he should wear!"
McGhee and her best friend, Mary Greene, huddle together staring intently at the screen as Clay belts out his rendition of Billy Joel's Tell Her About It. The audience goes wild when Clay hits a big note and the smile on McGhee's face gets even bigger.
Pleased with his performance, it was time to phone in their votes to keep Clay on the program for another week.
"He did great! He looked so good," McGhee said. Her sister, Joan Mabrey, chimes in, "He was wonderful!"
The next night, the results are revealed, again, live on television. But instead of heading out to Raleighwood, McGhee joins about 15 to 25 close friends and family at Clay's mother's house in Raleigh for the viewing. And to their delight, he gets enough votes to stay in the running.
The real Clay
Clay is an avid volunteer and has done a lot of work with students with autism and other developmental disabilities. In fact, he is scheduled to graduate from UNC-Charlotte this May with a degree in special education.
McGhee, owner of the jewelry design business B'jeweled, has been busy creating pendants and several different T-shirt designs to sell each week.
The Clay memorabilia has been selling like crazy, McGhee said, and not just locally. All of the proceeds are going to different charities, including the student council for exceptional children at UNCC and programs supporting autistic children. This is Clay's wish, McGhee said. "He's a great kid. He's just a good, young Christian boy," she said. "Clay is quite a giver."
Clay was born and raised in Raleigh and graduated from Leesville Road High School in 1997. McGhee says singing has always been a part of his life -- in the Raleigh Boys Choir, Raleigh Little Theatre, the North Carolina Theatre. She remembers a time when Clay's mother and grandmother would bring him to work with them at Sears, and "he would stand on the countertop and entertain customers."
Clay's talent has always been a source of comfort for the family, said McGhee. When his grandfather passed away, they asked him to sing at the funeral. As long as he could stand behind a screen so he didn't have to see his family's emotional reactions he could do it, he told her. So he sang Sheltered in the Arms "and he did such a good job," McGhee said. "And when he finished ... he just hugged my neck and lost it."
Raleighwood to Hollywood
Just last week, McGhee and several other family members flew out to Los Angeles to be part of the live studio audience for the show and support Clay in person.
McGhee's 76-year-old mother, Amaryllis -- "Nanny" to Clay -- had never been on an airplane before, but she said she has never missed one of Clay's performances and she wasn't about to start now.
Amaryllis says she has talked to Clay on the phone and he doesn't seem to be too nervous. "He's so relaxed anyway. He's so used to being in front of an audience," she said. And though she is a bit biased, she thinks Clay might go all the way and win the competition.
"He's just such a super guy ... in his manners and in his singing," Amaryllis said. "I just feel like he's going to make it. And if he doesn't, he'll get something out of it."
Amaryllis' plane ride was a success, McGhee said. "She did great. She'd never been on a subway before either, and she did that," McGhee said. "She had a good time."
The American Idol host even gave Amaryllis the pleasure of introducing her grandson on live television when it was time for him to perform.
Watching Clay on the stage was quite different than seeing him on a big screen, McGhee said.
"The set is totally different from what you see on television," McGhee said after the family got back last Thursday.
They were able to spend three evenings with Clay after three consecutive nights of live television shows. And everywhere they went, he was recognized "big time," McGhee said.
Clay told her that sometimes he isn't even able to eat when he goes out because he is bombarded by fans. "You don't understand," he told her; "everybody attacks me."
Sure enough, during a walk on the boardwalk in Santa Monica, fans swarmed in begging for autographs once they realized it was Clay.
McGhee said Clay seems a bit homesick and misses his family and friends. The contestants will tour the country performing for two months this summer, and she said they are planning a family cookout for him when the tour makes it to Raleigh.
She said Clay has been educating those in Hollywood about the South.
"He says Raleigh is like Mayberry" compared to Los Angeles, McGhee said. "And he's told them all about pig pickin's."
American Idol airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Fox, and the results of the votes are announced each Wednesday at 8:30 p.m, also on Fox. McGhee encourages everyone to watch Clay perform, then call in your vote to make her nephew America's newest star.

WAKE WEEKLY

[Cruiser]

Fan finds an 'Idol' in Aiken
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
By MICHAEL A. BELL

ZEBULON NC - "American Idol" wannabe Clay Aiken of Raleigh has an abundance of fans across the entire nation, but none like Zebulon native Bonnie Parrish.

Aside from her "Clay Mobile" - the Nissan Maxima which displays support aphorisms all over it - she wears T-shirts and buttons parading his portrait and even a "Clay" silver slide around her neck. "I just want everyone to know about him," Parrish said, adding she has practically forced her adoration on all her Debnam Insurance co-workers and customers. "They have no choice but to like him."

About five years ago, Parrish and her sister-in-law were at a country music amateur show in Garner NC. The show was hosted by the now-famous/then-unknown Aiken, and he also performed a song called "Heroes" as a tribute to the autistic children he works alongside. A video played behind the song showing those less fortunate.

When he started singing, Parrish and her travel companion looked at each other "with our mouths wide open," she said. "Wow. That said a lot about him."

She promptly "stampeded" into the lobby to buy his tape which included Christian songs with proceeds benefiting autism research. From that point on, Parrish followed him around Selma and Dunn to various appearances.

"Those of us that are Clay fans are fans not just because of his beautiful, pure voice and the magic that's about him, but because of his caring and his work with children," Parrish said. Aiken has already admitted on the big stage he was pursuing a UNC-Charlotte "special education" degree before his big break occurred on one of prime-time television's highest Nielsen-rated programs.

If "our youth" must have an "idol," then Aiken represents the "character and values" our young need to look up to today, Parrish said.

Much to her delight last fall, she saw Aiken audition as an "American Idol" contestant hoping to follow in the footsteps of Kelly Clarkson (the show's first winner who later released a No. 1 single and has a major motion picture in the works), Justin Guarini (the one with the "Sideshow Bob" hair and a co-starring feature film role) and Tamyra Gray (currently enjoying an acting run on the "Boston Public" Fox series).

Even though his advancement to the finals may have been a shocker to many, she knew his destination of stardom long before anyone else. "We can always say we knew him back when," Parrish added.

She even took the artistic passion for Aiken internationally. "I have three Canadian e-mail buddies," she said. "They love Clay." Weekly call-in voting, however, is not open to anyone across the border.

She mentioned fans have surfaced because of his heartfelt songs, and she even received a call at 2 a.m. from one of those "addicted" to the unlikely heartthrob. "We now have a large group (some Watkins Chapel Baptist Church members included) going to Raleighwood on Tuesday night to cheer him on. You would not believe some of the age groups we have convinced to watch Clay on American Idol and vote. I have personally cast 1,391 votes for him."

His soaring public popularity paid huge dividends before the final dozen performers were culled from thousands of candidates. Originally passed over in the semifinal round, Aiken was invited back for a "wild card" edition where four more were selected. There, he answered the bell with the most phone calls to advance.

Now not only is he living in a multimillion-dollar Los Angeles, Calif., mansion, but he also received ringing endorsement from one celebrity judge. Toughest panel critic Simon Cowell told an Entertainment Weekly magazine writer in the March 28 edition: "You might as well end the competition right now. You have to put your money on Clay. I just can't see anyone beating him at this point."

Though that source radiates irritation on occasion, at least Parrish appreciates the opinion. "He does give honest criticism," she said of the top insult dog infamous for brutal retorts, even when addressing fellow talent evaluators Paul Abdul and Randy Jackson.

Even though the prominent comments may mean Parrish has hitched her bandwagon to the right budding star, she still bites her nails every Tuesday and Wednesday night in front of the tube. "We can't hardly stand it, we are so nervous for him," she said. "It's been fun having people see our buttons and comment on the car."

She has even joined the topic of conversation because of her unbridled enthusiasm. New people approach her and talk, lightening her days. However, her zealousness doesn't please everyone - namely, her uninterested brother. "I know he's tired of hearing Clay, Clay, Clay," but "we don't care," Parrish declared. "We're just excited to be able to be a part of this journey he's on. We're having so much fun."

She promptly calls herself the self-appointed "president" of the Clay Aiken fan club and even cites Scripture to reinforce her support. "He's inspirational, and something magical about him comes out when he performs," said Parrish. "He wants to make a difference, and it takes a special person to work with special-need children."

EASTERN WAKE NEWS

[Cruiser]

Aiken's 'Invisible' debuts online at AOL First Launch Music
First single heralds new sound for UNCC crooner
by Nick Smith - Special to NinerOnline.com
September 07, 2003

UNC Charlotte's very own Clay Aiken, runner up on the most recent season of "American Idol," is looking to beat out "Idol" winner Ruben Studdard in the only competition that really matters -- the charts -- with his October 14 debut release "Measure of a Man."
If first single "Invisible" is any indication, he should have no problem making himself very visible on radio play lists across the country.
One common criticism Aiken has had to endure is that his powerful voice is more suited to slow ballads or Broadway-style tunes than pop music, but "Invisible" goes a long way to answering those naysayers.
In the same way "Miss Independent" showcased a new sound and style for former "Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson, "Invisible" gives Aiken a chance to branch out from the type of music he's done so far and to prove his staying power is far more potent than many might believe.
Though the song, about the difficulties of being "invisible" to the person you want to be with, features lyrics that could be considered vaguely stalker-esque ("If I was invisible/I could just watch you in your room"). The upbeat and jaunty music and Aiken's inimitable delivery make it a lively and hopeful number.
Much faster than anything Aiken's done to this point, the tune nevertheless gives him a chance to let out the full power of his voice, creating the same sort of chill-inducing moments he was known for on the show.
Critics may still attack the song for being somewhat overproduced -- the music is big and bold and there's a plethora of background vocals -- but considering Aiken himself is doing much of the background work, it's difficult to find a reason to hold it against him.
While maybe not as earth-shattering as his powerful re-imagining of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" or his show-stopping "Solitaire," "Invisible" does prove that Aiken's got what it takes to forge a successful pop career after all, and makes one very excited to hear the rest when "Measure of a Man" hits in October.

NINERONLINE

[Cruiser]

'Idol' judge Simon Cowell says Clay Aiken's success due solely to choice of song
By AyaK, 09/10/2003

The sniping from American Idol judge Simon Cowell toward Idol runner-up Clay Aiken may have begun during American Idol 2, but it clearly isn't over yet. Entertainment Weekly (subscription required) reports that Simon dismisses Clay's chart success compared to Idol winner Ruben Studdard -- and even his platinum single -- as merely a consequence of Clay's decision to cover Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Said Simon, "'If Ruben had had 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' on his record, he'd have had the No. 1. I think that was the hit song. If you asked 100 record buyers who bought Clay's single 'What song did you want to buy?' I wouldn't be surprised if 70 percent at least said 'Bridge Over Troubled Water.' People will disagree, but that's my opinion.'' During Idol, Simon had dismissed the featured side of Clay's single, "This Is The Night," as "''American Idol: The Musical."

For his part, Clay doesn't want to get involved in yet another Clay-versus-Ruben battle. ''The whole country wants Ruben and me to be at each other's throats. We spent nine months competing with each other. And we both got what we wanted. He's got a title, and I'm nothing but proud of him." Makes sense to us.

We have no way of knowing what portion of Simon's comments were motivated by his real opinion and what portion were motivated by his desire to protect his reputation, since Entertainment Weekly notes that he seemed to favor Ruben consistently during the latter stages of Idol. However, we find ourselves in the awkward position of simultaneously agreeing and disagreeing with Simon.

As we reported here, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" has indeed become the featured side of Clay's single, at least in our opinion as well as Simon's -- and in the opinion of Nielsen SoundScan, which has been listing "Bridge" as the featured side for several weeks. On the other hand, any hit is due to both song selection AND performance, and "Bridge" (like many of the songs associated with Art Garfunkel) fits comfortably into Clay's style and range of singing but doesn't appear to fit Ruben's.

We detect a slight aroma of sour grapes eminating from the direction of Simon Cowell ... a sensation that is strengthened by reading Simon's characterization of Clay as "the geeky little kid who went on to win over the hearts of America through a singing competition." We tend to think that such a characterization could also be applied to Mr. Cowell himself.

REALITY TV WORLD