Clay Aiken News Network

Clay Aiken – In The “Blender”

By musicfan123 · Comments (8)

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Clay Aiken was in the “blender.” It was September 22, 2006, the fourth day of his frantic spin through the talk-show circuit to promote his new album, A Thousand Different Ways

Clay was greeted warmly by the entire panel of ladies on The View. They all commented about his new hairstyle.

Rosie O’Donnell took the lead role in the discussion with Clay. She related that she had her roots in Star Search and could relate to his experience on American Idol and how overwhelming the whirlwind was after the show.

Rosie said that Clay is just a kid who was pushed into the top of the celebrity world. She commented that it is hard to stay grounded, but that he was a good person and deserves the very best. Clay commented that he had no idea how big the AI show was while he was on it. He realized it when he went to Fantasia’s show and saw the press. He was told that night that in his year, it was much bigger.

There was some talk about panic attacks and how common they are in the world. In describing his panic attacks, Clay explained that he would feel like everything was whirling around him, that the walls were closing in and then it would hit! Clay also said that the panic attacks are not over, not 100% under control yet.

The ladies were very supportive and wanted to make sure they conveyed the fact that the panic attacks were nothing to be ashamed of. They all agreed that getting help was the right thing to do. Rosie said to the fans that Clay knows you love him, but love him from a distance…that is what a true fan would do.

The audience was excited to see Clay and hear him sing. Clay performed Without You. It was a strong performance and there was lots of applause and cheers for the performance. Rosie’s parting comment was “I admire you.”

Two videos are available for this appearance and the first one includes the positive interview. The second video is Clay’s performance of Without You.

Comments (8)

Categories : Clay History, Clay News

Tags : A Thousand Different Ways, American Idol, Clay Aiken, Fantasia, Panic Attacks, Rosie O'Donnell, Star Search, The View, Tried & True, Without You

Clay Aiken – Emergence To The Stage

By musicfan123 · Comments (18)

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Making An Entrance: commonly refers to entrances that are particularly prominent or attention-grabbing.

Certainly, Clay Aiken knows how to make an entrance. Whether it is an entrance to the stage on a TV show, the entrance from the back of the arena as he opened the show singing Kyrie, or just the stance that was so professionally lit at the beginning of his PBS special, Clay always puts that attention-getting spark into his emergence to the stage!

The following are a few of Clay’s arrivals to the stage. Which one is your favorite?

#1 American Idol Tour - Raleigh

#2 Tour Entrance from "The Mother Ship"

#3 Today Show - 5-9-08

#4 PBS Special

#5 The View 6-2-10

#6 The View - 5-8-08

#7 Rachel Ray 5-26-08

#8 Kimmel - 5-16-08

#9 Tyra Banks - 11-22-06

#10 - Kimmel 2-14-07

#11 Spamalot 2008

#12 Saturday Night Live 2-7-04

[poll id="3"]

Comments (18)

Categories : Clay News

Tags : American Idol Tour, Clay Aiken, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kyrie, Making An Entrance, PBS, Rachel Ray, Saturday Night Live, Spamalot, The View, Today Show, Tried & True, Tried and True Live, TYra Banks Show

Clay Aiken – Hot Dog!

By musicfan123 · Comments (8)

Saturday, June 18th, 2011

In the last eight years, Clay Aiken has been interviewed hundreds of times. He has been interviewed for magazines, been questioned by radio DJ’s and chatted with television hosts at all times of the day.

One of the most unique interviews that Clay participated in was the day he was questioned by a “Hot Dog.” It was October 17, 2003 and it was really Meredith Vieira who hosted The View and for some reason, was dressed as a Hot Dog.

Clay was on the promotional tour for Measure of A Man and he was hitting all the major talk shows on TV. He stopped by The View after performing on The Early Show at CBS.

Before a performance of Invisible, Clay talked with a couple of the ladies on the show. Meredith led an interesting interview. Clay looked relaxed until Meredith read a letter from a fan who wanted to know how Clay smelled. WHAT?? Yes, that’s what she wanted to know.

So, as Clay looked uncomfortable, Meredith obliged the fan and smelled Clay! Then, to make Clay feel even more embarrassed, a professional perfumer was called down to give a sniff too. Both reported that Clay smelled fresh and had a hint of a perfume smell which was good.

Why do TV panelists feel the need to do such silly things? I wonder how they would feel if it happened to them.

Fortunately, the rest of the interview was interesting and Clay chatted with the hosts and showed that he was relaxed and professional in his interview.

The stage setting for the performance was lovely and Clay sounded wonderful when he sang Invisible. All and all, it was a fun show and Clay probably still remembers that visit.

The following is a great video of the interview and performance. It is always fun to see Clay at the beginning of his successful career.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6wvNNMEU1U

Comments (8)

Categories : Clay History, Clay News

Tags : "Invisible", CBS, Clay Aiken, measure of a man, Meredith Vieira, The Early Show, The View, Tried & True

Clay Aiken – A Chatty Interview

By musicfan123 · Comments (5)

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

It is hard to believe that it has been exactly a year since Clay Aiken was a musical guest on the popular day – time talk show, The View.

Promoting his new album titled Tried & True, Clay showed all the album pictures as he talked about the classic songs that were a part of the album.

Since it had been over a year since Clay had visited The View, the ladies asked Clay questions about American Idol, coming out and his young son, Parker.

The guest co-host of the day was comedian, Mario Cantone. He praised Clay for his decisions about becoming a father and seemed to show a great deal of respect for Clay and the way he lives his life.

After the chatty interview, Clay performed a beautiful rendition of Unchained Melody, one of the fan favorites from the new album. The special arrangement by Ben Cohn showed off the beautiful song and Clay’s performance was amazing.

I am ready to see and hear Clay on The View again. How about you?

Comments (5)

Categories : Clay History, Clay News

Tags : American Idol, Ben Cohn, Clay Aiken, Mario Cantone, The View, Tried & True, Unchained Melody

Clay Aiken – Fiesta Time At The Aiken House

By musicfan123 · Comments (7)

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

There are days when there are no huge announcements about Clay Aiken. Instead, there are many little bits of news. Wednesday was one of those days!!

The following announcement was posted on FaceBook yesterday. Now, I know that Clay has always said that we should not think anything is real unless we hear it from him…however; this is from the Official Site of the Durham Bulls. Maybe it will be posted on the Official Fan Club site today.

Durham Bulls Baseball Club

Just got comfirmation…Clay Aiken will perform the National Anthem at the DAP game on Monday. FaceBulls get a 14-hour jump on the press release to buy tickets. Why? Because we love you!

The Durham Bull play in the International League. They are the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. At this time, the Bulls are having a winning season with 15 wins to 12 losses.

The team became well known in 1988 following the release of the movie Bull Durham. The movie starred Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon.

The following was posted on the OFC site yesterday afternoon.

Quick Update from Team Clay

05/04/11 at 5:00pm by brian

Hi everyone! Whew…it has been quite busy around these parts at Team Clay and we haven’t had a chance to update you lately. But thanks to hearing from you, the faithful OFC members, we’re taking a minute to slow down and let you know what’s happening.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback on our OFC merchandise poll we ran a couple weeks back. The feedback was wonderful and we’re working on incorporating the items you voted for in to a new 2011 Ultimate Membership package. Expect an announcement on new renewal packages (we’re keeping both the Ultimate and Digital options) next week.

We’re also gearing up to add a new feature on the OFC that we are excited to tell you about next week. Stay tuned.

I am glad that they took the time to up-date us. Anyone have any idea what the new feature will be??

Although American Idol has tried to erase Clay Aiken from their history, they seem to be making Season 10 a retrospective of Clay Aiken….I mean….they take Clay’s most popular songs and ask this years Idols to sing them.

This retrospective was most obvious last night when two of the remaining Idols sang “Clay Aiken” songs. I don’t watch Idol, but the I knew immediately when tweet after tweet showed up, reminding everyone that Without You was the lead song on Clay’s Album, A Thousand Different Ways.

Just a few minutes later, another group of tweets appeared….. Unchained Melody…..Did Idol forget that Clay received high marks from the judges when he sang UM on American Idol…or did they forget that Clay had the most beautiful arrangement of UM on his latest album, Tried & True.

Another sign of the great publicity was an announcement from ZOCIALtv. This site keeps track of the Top 25 Most Shared Shows Videos Today. Clay’s YouTube video of Unchained Melody from his visit at The View reached the #1 position Wednesday night.

So………American Idol seems to want Clay Aiken to get some attention…the retrospective is a done-deal. Each time one of the Idols sings a “Clay Aiken” song, Clay gets great positive promotion. Thank you, American Idol. This has got to be your subtle way of reminding everyone that nobody sings as well as Clay Aiken!!

Don’t forget that today is Cinco de Mayo, the yearly holiday, which celebrates all things Mexican. The festival dates back to May 5, 1862 when Mexican Republic forces defeated the invading French military at the Battle of Puebla, despite being vastly outnumbered. Although the holiday is not currently celebrated through much of Mexico, it remains as popular as ever in the United States and other parts of the world.

In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is a marketing celebration, like Valentine’s Day, that was made to sell more Corona and tequila. It is similar to St Patrick’s Day –another day of fun.

Is Clay celebrating Cinco de Mayo? Clay has said that he is not a big fan of Guacamole or avocados and complained that too much food in California is smothered in the “green stuff.” However, maybe he and his family actually like a taco or two and maybe they like to munch on a plateful of Nachos. Who knows….It might be Fiesta Time at the Aiken House!!

The following videos show the remarkable performances that Clay puts on when he sings his favorite songs.

Comments (7)

Clay Aiken – He “Owns” Unchained Melody!

By musicfan123 · Comments (8)

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

On March 12, 2010, Clay Aiken stood on the stage of the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium and sang one of the most popular songs in history. Unchained Melody is thought to be the most recorded song written in the 20^th century. There are approximately 500 different versions of this song.

In 1955, HyZaret wrote the beautiful lyrics and put them to the music created by Alex North. Unchained melody was originally written for the 1955 movie, Unchained. Todd Duncan sang the song.

In 1965, The Righteous Brothers created a new version of Unchained Melody. It hit the number four spot on the music charts and continued on the charts for 12 weeks. Their version of the song was used in the 1990 film, Ghost. After the movie, Unchained Melody was once again in the number one spot on the charts.

The song was also used in the film, Soldier, a military drama. Two actors from the film sang a simple rendition of the song. No one really thought much about it until the television station that broadcast the movie received countless calls from viewers who wanted to buy the version by the actors. It was Simon Cowell of American Idol fame who convinced the actors to record the song. And their recording hit platinum status within its first week in 1995.

In 2010, the talented Ben Cohn wrote a beautiful arrangement of Unchained Melody for Clay Aiken. The lush orchestration highlighted the strengths of Clay’s voice. Many feel that this production of the song is one of the best around.

No one can sing Unchained Melody better than Clay Aiken who has loved the song since he was a young child. His passionate rendition will be around a long time. Clay now “owns” Unchained Melody.

On Wednesday, a list of the Top 25 most shared videos from The View listed Clay Aiken’s performance of Unchained Melody as # 3. The wonderful performance has been shared on Twitter, Facebook and many different blogs. The following is the YouTube of Clay singing Unchained Melody on The View.

Comments (8)

Categories : Clay News

Tags : Alex North, Ben Cohn, Clay Aiken, FaceBook, Ghost, Hy Zaret, Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Simon Cowell, The Righteous Brothers, The View, Todd Duncan, Tried & True, Twitter, Unchained Melody

Clay Aiken – The View

By musicfan123 · Comments (8)

Sunday, January 9th, 2011

The name Clay Aiken comes up in many conversations daily among many people. On Saturday, a conversation that I was involved with was about Clay and his wonderful appearances on the popular daytime television show, The View.

The conversation made me think of the many times Clay has visited The View. From what I can remember, he has appeared on the show nine different times. Each one was fun, different and entertaining. I hope I found them all.

7-30-03

Clay and Ruben both talked with the ladies and sang the new singles.

10-17-03

Besides singing Invisible, Clay was interviewed by a “Hot Dog” and smelled by an expert!

03-04-04

The sang The Way and even though he was not feeling well, his performance was great.

12-09-04

Sitting in the middle of a special Christmas set, Clay performed Mary Did You Know.

09-22-06

Looking dashing in his gray suit and long hair, Clay sang Without You

01-22-08

No song for this appearance, but Clay tried to teach the Russian Dance from Spamalot to he ladies.

05-08-08

On My Way Here was a hit when Clay performed it on this appearance.

06-02-10

To me, the best performance of then all, Clay sang Unchained Melody

07-13-10

Clay was a co-host on the View. It was cute that he actually got “bleeped” and there was a great conversation on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!

I am posting a YouTube of Clay’s performance of Unchained Melody. Be sure and double click on the video and leave a comment under the video on YouTube.

Comments (8)

Categories : Clay News

Tags : "Invisible", "The Way", "This Is The Night", Clay Aiken, Co-Hosting The View, Decca Records, Don't Ask- Don't Tell, Mary Did You Know, On My Way Here, Spamalot, The View, Tried & True, Unchained Melody, Without You

Clay Aiken – At The Top Of The Lists

By musicfan123 · Comments (7)

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011

If you want to feel some excitement and pride for Clay Aiken, visit the Decca Records Website. On their community page, they have seven lists that rate their music stars in different categories. It is wonderful to see that Clay is listed four times on the lists. It certainly put a smile on my face.