Clay Aiken

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Clay Aiken (2012)

Clay Aiken (* thirtieth November 1978 in Raleigh , North Carolina as Clayton Holmes Grissom ) is an American pop / rock singer, the 2003 finale of the second season of American Idol to Ruben Studdard lost. He is also a Democratic Party politician .

American Idol

Aiken qualified third in his group for the theme shows. Only Studdard, the eventual winner of the competition, and future third, Kimberley Locke , were officially better than him.

In the motto shows he developed together with Studdard to the favorites for the title, which was also true on May 21, 2003 when they faced each other in the final. Aiken sang many ballads in the theme shows .

Studdard won the final by a narrow margin of 130,000 votes on a total of 24 million calls. The result was criticized, however, because the lines were often busy and it was not always possible to vote. Because of this, some requested that the number of calls attempted be counted, which were higher with Aiken. The makers of American Idol did not bow to criticism.

Clay Aiken emerged as the most successful interpreter from the second American Idol season.

Career

2003-2005: Measure of a Man / Merry Christmas with Love

Aikens debut single Bridge over Troubled Water / This Is the Night ( Aldo Nova / Gary Burr / Chris Braide ), published on 10 June 2003, was approved by the Recording Industry Association of America with platinum excellent. The single went from 0 to 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot 100 single sales . The song became the fastest- selling single after Elton John's Candle in the Wind in 1997 and the best-selling single of 2003.

His debut album Measure of a Man was released on October 14, 2003 , which went from 0 to 1 on the Billboard 200 with over 600,000 CDs sold. By August 2006, over 2,750,000 copies of the album had sold, which means double platinum. The record was awarded to him by Clive Davis on the American show Good Morning America . From February to April 2004 he was on tour with Kelly Clarkson , the Independent Tour . He recorded a duet called Without You with Kimberley Locke, which appeared on Kimberley Locke's debut album in May 2003. His second tour was called The Not a Tour 2004 Summer Solo Tour , which took him through 50 cities in the USA from July to September 2004. The tour sponsor was from Disney .

A third tour took place in November and December 2004. It was called The Joyful Noise Tour and performed in 28 cities. The tour was designed with a Christmas theme based on the second album Merry Christmas with Love , for which Torrie Zito wrote the arrangements and which sold over a million times and went platinum. The tour was sponsored by the Ronald McDonald House . A thirty- piece orchestra was hired for the tour . In some cities Aiken was supported by the regional orchestras. B. in Atlanta from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra .

In February 2005, Aiken played the role of Kenny in a single episode in the comedy series Scrubs . The Jukebox Tour was the title of the fifth tour that Aiken took between July and September 2005 through the USA and Canada . There are covers from his debut album, as well as some new songs he played before an audience tested from the 1950s to the 1990s, a few songs.

2006: A Thousand Different Ways

His new album A Thousand Different Ways hit US stores on September 19, 2006. In the first week, Aiken sold more than 200,000 albums and went from 0 to 2, placing his third album in the top 5 on the Billboard 200 , something few artists in the US have done so far.

Private life

Clay Aiken is now the father of a son who was born on August 8th, 2008 after artificial insemination . Just a month later, Aiken came out in an interview with Entertainment Online and openly admitted his homosexuality .

Political career

Clay Aiken ran in the US House of Representatives elections on November 4, 2014 as a Democrat against Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers in the 2nd constituency of North Carolina, but lost her with 41:59 percent of the vote.
He had previously won the internal party primaries on May 6, 2014 with 40.83% of the vote against the former North Carolina Secretary of Commerce, Keith Crisco , and Toni Morris.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
US US
2003 Measure of a Man US1
Double platinum
× 2
Double platinum

(35 weeks)US
First published: October 14, 2003
2004 Merry Christmas with Love US4th
platinum
platinum

(7 weeks)US
First published: November 16, 2004
2006 A Thousand Different Ways US2
gold
gold

(14 weeks)US
First published: September 19, 2006
2008 On my way here US4 (5 weeks)
US
First published: May 6, 2008
2010 Tried and True US9 (4 weeks)
US
First published: June 1, 2010
2012 Steadfast US120 (1 week)
US
First published: March 27, 2012

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
US US
2009 Playlist: The Very Best of US173 (1 week)
US
First published: March 31, 2009

more publishments

  • 2004: Live - A Clay Aiken Christmas (US:goldgold)
  • 2006: All Is Well
  • 2010: Tried and True Live
  • 2010: X2: A Thousand Different Ways / Measure of a Man

Singles

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
US US
2003 This is the night US1 (16 weeks)
US
First published: June 3, 2003
Invisible
Measure of a Man
US37
gold
gold

(20 weeks)US
First published: October 2003
2004 The Way / Solitaire
Measure of a Man
US4 (8 weeks)
US
First published: March 17, 2004
  • 2003: Bridge Over Troubled Water (US:platinumplatinum)

Individual evidence

  1. a b The Green Papers: North Carolina 2014 General Election. Retrieved November 2, 2014 .
  2. ETonline.com ( Memento of 24 August 2010 at the Internet Archive ) 25, September 2008
  3. ^ CNN Election Center. Retrieved November 6, 2014 .
  4. a b c Chart sources: US
  5. Music Sales Awards: US

Web links