CLAY AIKEN Biography - Other artists & entretainers

 
 

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CLAY AIKEN

Name: Clayton Holmes Grissom                                                       
Born: November 30, 1978 Raleigh, North Carolina U.S.                               
                                                                                     
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. Based on album sales surpassed only by Idol winners Kelly   
Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, Aiken has become the most successful male and the   
most successful second-place finisher in that show's history.                       
                                                                                     
In the four 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, appeared as a guest star on Scrubs, has participated in comedy         
skits on Kimmel and Saturday Night Live and made his Broadway debut in Monty       
Python's Spamalot.                                                                 
                                                                                     
Aiken created the Bubel/Aiken Foundation in 2003, accepted a UNICEF                 
ambassadorship in 2004, and in 2006 was appointed by President George W. Bush       
to a committee that acts in an advisory capacity to the President and the           
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on matters relating to     
programs and services for persons with intellectual disabilities.