Clay Aiken

Clayton Holmes Aiken (né Grissom; born November 30, 1978) is an American singer, television personality, actor, politician, and activist.

In 1995, Aiken started working at the YMCA.

Still in high school, Aiken learned quickly that he could make a difference in the lives of young people.

He found his interest in special education while directing YMCA children's camps as a teenager, and at age 19, he served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of autistic students at Brentwood Elementary School in Raleigh.

It was during that experience that he decided to finish college and become a special education teacher.

While attending college in Charlotte, he took a part-time job as an assistant to a boy with autism, and it was this child's mother, Diane Bubel, who urged him to audition for American Idol.

Aiken finished second place on the second season of American Idol in 2003, and his debut album, Measure of a Man, went multi-platinum.

With Diane Bubel, Aiken created the Bubel/Aiken Foundation in 2003, which was later renamed the National Inclusion Project.

Although his American Idol activities temporarily delayed his academic pursuits, Aiken completed his course work while on tour and graduated with a bachelor's degree in special education in December 2003.

He released four more albums on the RCA label, Merry Christmas with Love (2004), A Thousand Different Ways (2006), the Christmas EP All is Well (2006), and On My Way Here (2008).

Aiken co-wrote a bestselling memoir in 2004, Learning to Sing.

In 2004 he also had a televised Christmas special, A Clay Aiken Christmas.

In 2004 he became a UNICEF ambassador, a position he held until 2013 when he gave it up in order to run for Congress.

He traveled extensively in this role.

In 2006, he was appointed for a two-year term to the Presidential Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

During much of 2008 he appeared on Broadway in the musical comedy Spamalot, in the role of Sir Robin.

On August 8, 2008, Aiken announced, on his personal blog, the birth of his son in North Carolina: "My dear friend, Jaymes, and I are so excited to announce the birth of Parker Foster Aiken."

The child's mother, Jaymes Foster, is the sister of record producer David Foster, executive producer of Aiken's last three albums on the RCA label.

"The little man is healthy, happy, and as loud as his daddy," Aiken wrote.

"Mama Jaymes is doing quite well also."

In his book, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, Aiken said, "It's a Southern tradition to be given your first name from your grandmama's maiden name."

Aiken's middle name came from his paternal grandmother's maiden name; he and Foster used the married surnames of their mothers to name their son.

After several years of public speculation, Aiken came out as gay in a September 2008 interview with People magazine.

In April 2009, Aiken was honored by the Family Equality Council advocacy group at its annual benefit dinner in New York City.

Since then he has released two more albums, both with Decca Records: Tried and True (2010) and Steadfast (2012).

Aiken has also had eleven tours in support of his albums.

In all, he has sold over 5 million albums, and is the fourth-highest-selling American Idol alumnus.

In 2010 he hosted the PBS special Tried & True Live! He has also had numerous cameo and guest appearances on TV shows.

He performed the national anthem numerous times for the Raleigh IceCaps and the Carolina Hurricanes hockey teams, and performed it at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game at the RBC Center in Raleigh.

Three demo albums of Aiken's vocals were created before American Idol with the aid of studio time given as a birthday gift by his mother: a cassette called Look What Love Has Done (by Clayton Grissom), a cassette and CD entitled Redefined (by Clayton Aiken), and a CD that combined some songs from each of the previous demos: "Look What Love Has Done, Vol 2" (by Clay Aiken).

Estranged from his abusive birth father Vernon Grissom and with his mother's and grandfather Alvis Aiken's permission, at the age of 19 he legally changed his surname from Grissom to his mother Faye's maiden name, Aiken.

Aiken attended Raleigh's Leesville Road High School and took courses at Campbell University before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

In 2012 he competed in the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice, coming in second to Arsenio Hall.

In 2014, Aiken ran for the United States House of Representatives in North Carolina's 2nd congressional district.

He won the Democratic primary, but lost to Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers in the general election.

In January 2022, he announced a run for the Democratic nomination in North Carolina's 4th congressional district, but he lost in the primary to Valerie Foushee.

Clay Aiken was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As a young boy, Aiken sang in the Raleigh Boychoir; and, as a teenager, he sang in school choirs, church choir, musicals and local theatre productions.

After high school, he sang lead with a local band, Just By Chance, co-hosting and performing with the band at "Just by Chance and Friends" shows in Dunn, North Carolina.

He was also MC and performer at the Johnston Community College Country Showcase in Smithfield and at the North Carolina Music Connection and Hometown Music Connection shows in Garner, and Benson.