Clay Aiken (born
Clayton Holmes Grissom on
November 30,
1978) is an
American pop singer who began his rise to fame on the
second season of the
television program American Idol in 2003.
RCA Records offered him a recording contract, and his multi-platinum debut album
Measure of a Man was released in October 2003. He released four more albums on the RCA label:
Merry Christmas with Love, A Thousand Different Ways, and the Christmas EP,
All is Well.
[Moss, Corey. "No Love for 'Idol' Losers." MTV.com. Retrieved 2007-06-23.][Barnes, Ken. "Idol sales standings: A fairly exhaustive list." USA Today. November 9, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-23.(article archived)] His fourth studio album (the first album of original material since 2003's
Measure of a Man),
On My Way Here was released on May 6, 2008.
["Clay Aiken heads "Here" on next album." Reuters New York. (Billboard) March 25, 2008.]
In the years following his
American Idol appearance, Aiken has launched eight tours, authored a
New York Times best-selling book
Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life with Allison Glock, and was the executive producer for a 2004 televised Christmas special,
A Clay Aiken Christmas. He has been a frequent talk show guest, particularly on
The Tonight Show and
Jimmy Kimmel Live. He appeared as a guest star on
Scrubs and participated in comedy skits on
Kimmel,
Saturday Night Live and
30 Rock.
Aiken created the
National Inclusion Project (formerly the Bubel/Aiken Foundation) in 2003, accepted a
UNICEF ambassadorship in 2004, and in 2006 was appointed for a two-year term to the Presidential Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
[An open letter from co-founders Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel: National Inclusion Project. August 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-05]["Celebrity Ambassadors: Clay Aiken" US Fund for UNICEF website.][ACF Press Office - PCPID Appointments." US Dept of Health and Human Services (2006). Retrieved 2007-06-22.]
