Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken is a nerd. I like nerds. I think they’re sexy, especially if they’re smart. Clay stood out when he auditioned for the second season of American Idol because of his nerdiness. I remember Randy Jackson being surprised at the big voice that came out of the tiny little nerd boy. I don’t remember what Simon said, but I’m sure it wasn’t nice. (Simon is cool, BTW. I just think he could word things a bit differently.) I don’t think many people remember this, but Clay was cut from the American Idol competition. He made it to the round of 32 and was then cut. Bummer. He was chosen to return for the Wild Card round and won that which put him in the top 12. He had actually filled out an application to be on The Amazing Race when a friend urged him to audition for American Idol. Interesting. I think he chose correctly.

Clayton Holmes Grissom was born a good ole boy on November 30, 1978 in Raleigh, North Carolina. His real dad was a prick so Clay took his step-dad’s last name instead. Good for him! Clay earned his bachelor’s degree in special education in December 2003. I’m impressed with anyone in special ed. I think it takes a very special person to pursue that degree. His degree alone tells me a lot about him.

Clay lost on American Idol, but I think he really won in many ways. He is by far more successful than the winner Ruben Studdard. I love Ruben, but I think Clay should have won. There were over 24 million votes recorded and Studdard won by only 130,000 votes. The phone system was overloaded and they estimate that over 150 million votes were dropped. Mmm…… One of the producers later on revealed that Clay led the voting every single week up until the final. So basically, things got screwed up and Clay should have won. Oh well. It probably worked out for the better.

Clay has accomplished quite a lot since not winning American Idol in 2003. His first solo album, Measure of a Man, went double platinum. He released a Christmas album the following year which also went platinum. He released another Christmas album in 2006 as well as other studio albums. Clay has done a lot of TV appearances and has also appeared on Broadway in Spamalot.  He is one of the top ten money earners of American Idol. He’s been more successful than many of the “winners”.

Clay has a son with David Foster’s sister, Jaymes. Parker Foster Aiken was born in 2008. I don’t think Clay and Jaymes did it or anything. I believe she was artificially inseminated. Clay announced later that year that he was gay. I’m glad he finally came out. I’m sure being gay in North Carolina is much harder and less accepted than being gay in California. I think it took guts for him to finally come out. Congrats to him.

Clay gives a lot to various charities. I think he’s a real good guy. He donates his time and his voice to a lot of different great causes. Clay got a bit freaky looking when he was doing Spamalot. He looked like he had put on weight and seemed kind of greasy looking. Whatever. I hope he keeps being the good guy he is and continues to make perty music. I’m a fan.