The Insider, Backstage With Clay

TV Infotainment show The Insider went backstage in today's episode with Clay's Joyful Noise 2005 Tour. This airs in most markets after the evening news cast. Check local listings. Clay reported in September for The Insider from the 2005 Emmy's and the Dancing with The Stars danceoff. This write up was posted on their website. Note... You can contact Clay through their website, and see a video clip so check it out!

Backstage with Clay Aiken


If you would like to send a message to Clay, click here.

Today might be Halloween, but CLAY AIKEN is already getting into the Christmas spirit, as he prepares for his second holiday tour.

Following the success of last year's tour in support of the festive album Merry Christmas With Love, "we immediately began saying, let's do it again, let's do it again, and make it bigger and better," says Clay during a rehearsal break. "I called my manager up and said, 'I've got this great idea. I want to get some actors next year and I want to do a story to go along with it."

Part concert, part play, the former "American Idol" finalist explains that the music featured in the show "is really a soundtrack" to the action taking place on stage. "It all kind of melds together."

But Clay isn't just singing for his supper. He's also utilizing his teaching background to tutor GREGORY ELLIS, one of the young boys in the production.

"I'm having so much fun with it," says Clay, who taught in his native North Carolina before becoming a pop sensation. "It gives me an opportunity to do what I used to do."

And for all you "Clay-mates" who want to get up close to the cute crooner, the tour kicks off November 2 in Vancouver and "then we head right on through till Christmas," says the singer. "The last show before Christmas is in my hometown of Raleigh. We'll come back after Christmas and do four shows in Florida. So it's 40 dates in 38 cities. It's a big undertaking."

For more with Clay, watch tonight's "Insider"!