“Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight

Someone’s thinking of me and loving me tonight.”

Those beautiful lyrics were sung by Clay Aiken on March 18, 2003. It was “Movie Night” on Season 2 and each contestant sang one of their favorite songs from a movie soundtrack.

Joining the regular judges, Simon, Randy and Paula, was Gladys Knight. She was introduced to the audience as the lady who sang the theme for the James Bond movie, “License to Kill.” Gladys was a great support to all the performers and quietly encouraged the group. That night, she gave Ruben the nickname of the “Velvet Teddy bear.”

The performances on this particular night ranged from Kimberley Locke singing “Home” from The Wiz, to Kimberly Caldwell singing “The Shoop Shoop Song.”

The highlight of the evening was “Somewhere Out There” from An American Tail. Clay sang it beautifully. It was a good song choice since it showed off his remarkable range and it was popular with people of all ages.

The judge’s comments were very positive:

Randy: “….the power, the range……this is good……..you did your thing baby”

Paula: “…..another one…..you are effortless with your voice….you are so natural…Congratulations”

Gladys: “….you’re a mystery…..you have your own look, there’s something very magical about your look….and your voice is so pure…..I don’t know in the contemporary world what is going to happen with you, but something exceptional is gonna happen with you along the way, cause you are so pure.”

Simon: “…..I think after tonight, you’re the one they’ve got to beat.”

It was a great night for Clay and an exciting time for all of his fans.

The following night, the audience was given a full hour of the results show. There was lots of talking by assorted people and verbal sparring between Ryan and Randy.

One of the highlights of the show was the group song, “Footloose.” The contestants performed it with a lot of energy and they moved all over the theater. They worked well as a team and their voices blended well together.

Finally, the audience found out who was in the bottom three. Josh, Trenyce, and Ricky were safe, but the next person, Julia, was in the bottom three. Clay was called next and Ryan says: “America is in love with you.” After Clay, Ruben, Carmen, Kim L. and Kim C. are all declared safe, Corey and Charles joined Julia in the bottom three.

Sadly, Charles was eliminated on Movie Night. After singing an encore of his song, “You Can’t Win” from The Wiz, the hour show was over.

Although this was only the second episode of this popular show, it was already obvious who the leaders were going to be and the audience let the performers know that Clay and Ruben were loved.

The following video shows a question and answer session, Clay’s performance with the judges comments, and the group performances, a trip to Old Navy and the first look at the mansion.  It’s really fun to see it all in one place.

 I am sure you probably have seen this before, but it’s fun to see it again.

Memories!!

This is one of the best on American Idol!!

And Clay…we really miss hearing from you!

Just a little tweet means a lot!