July 2004 Clay Article Written During First Solo Tour

Now that Clay has blogged, we hope to have more exciting news coming your way in the next few weeks. However, for a few more days anyway, I will continue to post something from the past about Clay. An article, a review, an interview. These are great to read and wonderful reminders of what was going on in Clay's life and career "back in the days".

Here's a great article that was written during his first solo tour. I think you'll enjoy it!

July 08, 2004 Clay's way
Aiken No Second-Place Finisher As Most Successful‘American Idol’ Star Sings On
By Knight Ridder Newspapers

By all standards and measures, Clay Aiken is an A-list celebrity. His first album, “Measure of a Man,” went triple-platinum in six months. He won a Billboard Music Award in December for the year’s best-selling single (his cover of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”). He was nominated for two “TRL Awards” on MTV: best male artist, along with Justin Timberlake, rapper 50 Cent and Andre 3000 of OutKast.

Aiken’s road to larger-than-life stardom was atypical: void of hype and paved with few of the traditional steppingstones. He didn’t do time as a singer/dancer on the Disney Channel. He didn’t emerge from a boy band. Nor was he the focus of a glitzy, million-dollar publicity campaign from a label trying to hype his talents and spit-shine his star qualities. All Aiken did was be himself for several weeks in the second edition of the Fox network’s weekly talent search, “American Idol,” a role that led to a showdown — and a cooked-up rivalry — with vocalist Ruben Studdard. Aiken lost that little war, but he won the larger battle decisively. He has been, by far, the most popular and successful “American Idol” performer. [His constant touring includes a Charleston Civic Center show on Tuesday.]

No matter how temporary it is, his success says a lot about what some people these days want from their celebrity entertainers. Mostly, it says they want someone who isn’t larger than life, someone who is as ordinary, wholesome and homogenous as they are. Nearly every review of an Aiken tour notes the composition of the audience: predominantly females of all ages, including lots of moms and grandmothers. Asked recently whether he brings out the maternal instincts in some of his fans, Aiken laughed and said: “The show lets you watch a person and get to know a person and even take ownership of that person. It’s possible I remind people of a kid who needs taking care of. But I don’t mind. My fans do take care of me. They are amazingly devoted and enthusiastic.”

Aiken brings out the motherliness in some of his fans because, above all, he portrays himself as a moral hygienist: He’s friendly, spiritual, charitable, modest and humble.

He also arrived at “Idol” with a sympathetic story: He was estranged from his birth father and raised by his mother and her second husband, who died in 2002. He started singing in church choirs while still in grade school. While in college, planning for a career working with underprivileged children, a half-sister committed suicide.
Thus, his fans extract something deeper from his music than casual listeners, who tend to dismiss Aiken as another Barry Manilow or the next Michael Bolton. His most die-hard fans document his every move in excruciating detail, right down to the jewelry he wears or doesn’t wear on a certain day.

“I have a chain I wear occasionally around my neck,” he said, “and fans on their Web sites will write about what’s on the chain on a certain day, whether it’s just a chain or there’s a pendant on it.

“I really don’t understand it. I still think I’m awkward and geeky and pretty normal.”

Aiken knows his success comes with a stigma — “People say we’re not real artists; we’re game-show contestants” — which puts him in a peculiar place. For now, he’s obligated to play up his association with the show that made him a star. But he’d also like to slip out of its spotlight and into his own eventually.

“Maybe when I’m done with the second album,” he said, “I’ll be able to distance myself from the show a little bit.”

Aiken knows why so many of his fans were attracted to him: because he isn’t as slick and beautiful and luminous as people like Cherie or Justin Timberlake.

“Most people who attach themselves to someone on the show pick someone they relate to,” he said. “Ruben and I don’t fit the typical image of a star. I’ve told Kelly [Clarkson] several times, the reason every person auditioned for the second [‘Idol’] show was because they saw her win, and they thought, ‘She’s normal; if she can do that, so can I.’”

Clay Aiken performs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Charleston Civic Center. Tickets, $34.50 and $44.50. Call 342-5757.