Clay Aiken
News (Page 6)

I've worked stressful jobs in the past where the days passed by in a never-ending quest to get the work done for the boss and client. However, I was compensated monetarily for the work-related stress, lack of sleep, and churning stomach.

Fast forward to the past two weeks and picture this: "What?!? You got free tickets for the Jimmy Kimmel Live show in L.A. on September 26 and you want me to go? You're nuts! Wait, how many songs is he going to be singing in that outdoor mini-concert? Three to five? Say 15 minutes worth of hearing Clay Aiken sing? I'll think about it..."

And think about it I did, after receiving the invitation from a fellow Clay Aiken fan living in the midwest.

Having not seen Clay in concert since last November, I really wanted to go. But flying to Los Angeles for a 15-minute concert? I shelved the idea for about a week, and had almost talked myself out of it when the marvelous news flashed across the message boards that the Jimmy Kimmel Live show wasn't to be Clay's only appearance in the City of Angels that day!

Was he going to be on a daytime talk show? Perhaps filming a music video for the new CD? What? Soon the beans were spilled and the glorious news came that Clay would be doing a CD signing event at the Virgin Megastore across the street from the Kimmel show. Now the pot was sweetened, and I once again decided to really attempt this mad Day of Clay.

Thus began a flurry of long-distance phone calls, airline reservations, begging for a couch to sleep on from old friends -- anything to lower the cost and not end up in divorce court with non-Clayfan husband. Finally the reservations were made, and after only 3.5 hours of sleep I hopped on the early flight to L.A. Monday morning.

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Our man Clay Aiken visited Larry King Live the other night and we located the full transcript on CNN.com.

Larry, who calls Clay one of his favorite people, talked with Aiken about his struggle with panic disorder, his move back to North Carolina, his time on American Idol, his terrific new album, A Thousand Different Ways, and the persistent rumors about his personal life. Let's take a look at the full transcript, below:

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KING: He's got a new CD. It's A Thousand Different Ways. Clay Aiken is our special guest. There you see the cover. And, Clay Aiken is back. Congratulations this CD is still in first place. It's also number two on the Billboard 200. Where you been? Where did you go? Did you leave us?

AIKEN: Well, I was working on this. It took us a while. It was kind of a process to get this thing together. It started out as an album that was going to be all original material and we kind of took a turn and decided to make a lot of -- do some remakes of some old love songs.

KING: But you stopped doing concerts, right? I mean didn't you kind of...

AIKEN: We went out for Christmas. We did a Christmas concert in 2004 on the back of a Christmas album and then did another one last year and did a lot of work with UNICEF and a lot of work with my foundation and so we kind of focused on that for a while.

KING: So you didn't go away, away?

AIKEN: Didn't go away, Larry.

KING: You moved out here.

AIKEN: Right.

KING: And then back in North Carolina.

AIKEN: I moved out here for a while and then headed back to North Carolina.

KING: Didn't like it here?

AIKEN: There are plenty of good things about it here, you know.

KING: But?

AIKEN: There are plenty but, you know, I just kind of like the small town local, quiet, know where everybody lives, know my way around town, no traffic. There's a lot of plusses to every place in the country. But, you know, home is, it's always better to be at home right?

KING: Are you back in the city you grew up in?

AIKEN: I am.

KING: It seems you've stepped back from the spotlight too didn't you? Is there any reason for that?

AIKEN: Well, I mean I think of that stuff happened so quickly, you know. You're on -- I was on Idol and the minute I came off the show I had no idea how big it was, you know. We were so sequestered on the show.

KING: You were the first...

AIKEN: The second season.

KING: Second season.

AIKEN: And it was the first season that it really blew up and we had no idea how big the show was. And, I come off the show and it's everywhere you turn people are staring at you, pointing, and taking a picture and it was such a whirlwind for two years. It was kind of nice to be able to sit back and collect yourself and relax and try to breathe for a minute, so I appreciated that.

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Leave it to Simon Cowell to mock a guy on anti-anxiety medication.

When commenting on Clay Aiken's admittance that he takes the anti-depressant Paxil to deal with the fame he won on American Idol, the surly one definitely didn't hold back in a recent interview.

"Oh give me a break. Let me have a choice, I'm going to work in a coal mine for 14 hours a day or I'm going to be a runner-up on American Idol. Give me a break, idiot."

While judge Paula Abdul and celebrity guest judge Olivia Newton-John both stuck up for the season two runner-up, Cowell kept the insults rolling.

"They're not working for a living, they're becoming famous... no one's put a gun to their head... Clay, whatever he may have said, would not swap what he's got now for what he had three years ago."

Way to be sympathetic. Simon's attitude clearly provides Idol with a certain spark, but it would be nice if he would show a little sensitivity off-screen. Clay will surely take the high road on this because that's the kind of person he is, but it's still sad he has to put up with it. He is going through enough right now, and has a great new CD out. People should focus on that and let him live his life.

Our man Clay Aiken may have had a tough week in the media, but his fans will never desert him. Thousands attended a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live in which the singer performed... and the host proved to be a ClayMate, if only for a day. See below:

Nice shirt and sign, Jimmy!

One thing has made itself clear in the past week: Clay Aiken would rather be talking about the music. With a new album in stores -- a collection of classics near to his heart -- he's enthused and almost boastful about his latest.

Clay, who has been dogged by insensitive, personal questions ever since he made it big, tries to remain private and on-point throughout, but that task is difficult.

Aiken made headlines this week when he shot back at Diane Sawyer for asking if he was ready to come out and say he's gay. In the same interview, Aiken openly discussed taking Paxil to deal with his anxiety. So where does he draw the line?

"I think it's something that can benefit somebody else," Aiken told MTV News on Thursday about the medication. "[Knowing] who I'm dating and what kind of cereal I eat ain't gonna benefit anybody else. That kind of thing is not important. I think there's a distinction."

Aiken said he's never been interested in other celebrities' personal lives, even when the stories came right from the sources, like Lance Bass' coming out or fellow Idol Fantasia Barrino's illiteracy.

"Half those things I don't remember hearing about," Aiken said. "People have different opinions on that type of thing. I told you what mine is, and I think for each person, you do what's right for you."

"For me, part of the reason that I have anxiety is the fact that I feel like people are always staring at me. So it's important for me to make sure that I have my friends and vacation, and what I do at home with my family and that type of thing [stays private]."

Aiken said coming to fame on American Idol has made privacy even more scarce.

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In the second installment of a two-part interview on Good Morning America, Clay Aiken clashed with Diane Sawyer for asking him whether he is gay.

"I don't understand why you want to know. I don't understand why it's any of your business. At some point, [the question] becomes just really rude, you know?" he said Thursday.

Clay Aiken has, sadly, been the subject of gossip about his sexuality ever since he became a star on American Idol in 2003.

Sawyer went right after him, asking at the top of the interview if he was "ready to come out and say you're gay."

"That would not make sense for me do to that," Aiken said.

"You think I'm rude for asking?" Sawyer asked.

"I've gotten to a point where I feel it's invasive. Forget it. What I do in my private life is nobody's business anymore, period. I don't think you're rude because I figure people have a job to do," replied Aiken, whose album, A Thousand Different Ways, was released this week. "I just don't understand why people care, to be honest with you. anymore... This is a waste of my time."

Sawyer's questions, understandably, drew criticism from Clay's fans and gay groups.

"Media speculation about people's sexual orientation is not something we support," said Damon Romine, an official of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). "Coming out is a very personal, private decision that needs to be made by the individual."

GMA viewers also expressed their outrage at the treatment of the former American Idol star and global humanitarian.

"A person has a right to his or her privacy," one viewer wrote on the GMA message board. "Clay is trying to preserve this. I agree with him. What difference does it make?"

"Clay Aiken seems tired and beaten down by this issue," wrote another viewer. "People with no lives buy into the media speculation on his sex life ... Now, Mr. Aiken sees this is a no-win."

Seriously, can't people leave Clay alone? This is a man who gives so much back to the world. If he were gay, that wouldn't change any real fan's opinion of him. More importantly, it's no one's business but his. Personal privacy is a basic desire, and one Clay certainly deserves.

He was the North Carolina boy who made it big on American Idol.

But for Clay Aiken, who opened up to ABC's Diane Sawyer in the first part of an ongoing interview this week, fame came with a price.

"Clay, don't take this the wrong way, but I prefer you when I shut my eyes," said Idol judge Simon Cowell to Aiken after one performance.

It was one thing to smile through the brutal verbal barbs fired off by Cowell, but yet another to be Clay Aiken this past year.

The tabloids have taken aim at everything from his sexual orientation to his mental equilibrium. The late-night comedians have launched a non-stop assault, making jokes that were initially funny to Aiken, but eventually took their toll.

This year, Aiken moved back home to Raleigh, N.C..

"I need to get out of Hollywood," he said.

The geeky, skinny kid who was bullied by his classmates is no stranger to tough times. He experienced the trauma of his sister's suicide and has worried about his brother, a Marine currently fighting in Iraq.

"I always prided myself on the fact that I was able to handle this on my own, pray about it, talk to my family, talk to my friends, and just get through it, you know, being tough," Aiken said.

But eventually the fame and ferocity of public inspection started to take a physical toll when he walked into a public room. He often felt like he was going to have a heart attack when he would make public appearances. So Clay decided to talk to his doctor.

"I said, 'Listen, here's the, here's the thing. I don't understand why I feel like I'm gonna have a heart attack when I go into these rooms. I don't get it," he said.

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The big day is here.

As Clay Aiken fans and much of the music world know, his third album came out today.

A Thousand Different Ways features four original songs and 10 covers. The original songs are titled “Lonely No More,” “These Open Arms,” “Everything I Have,” and “A Thousand Days.” That proportion may be disappointing to those who hoped his first record in two years would be full of new music, but surely Claymates will eat it up.

In a press release, Clay said he and his producer “started out with one or two covers,” and then “slowly discovered that it’s harder these days to come by songs that are as superb as the songs that I grew up on.” He also says “this new album has much more of me in it.”

The first single is "Without You." Writers of the four new songs include Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, Andreas Carlsson, Jeremy Bose, Aldo Nova, Samuel Waermo, Mimmi Waermo and Aiken himself.

Clay appeared on Good Morning America today, performing a few songs and doing an interview, then will appear on GMA again Wednesday and Thursday for an in-depth interview. He will sing on The View on Friday, come back to GMA for a song and interview on the 24th, then hit ET on the 26th, along with Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Allow AIW to officially put smaller venues throughout the eastern U.S. on notice. You may find your phone and online ticket systems crashed by eager Claymates.

We're talking, of course, about our man Clay Aiken and his scheduled holiday appearances with local symphony orchestras. Below are the dates. Look up the contact info for these venues and inquire about tickets -- more info can be found at Clay's official fan club site.

Also, be sure to pick up Clay's new album tomorrow (as if we had to remind Clay Nation)!

12/02/06
Star Plaza Theatre
Merrillville, IN

12/04/06
Turning Stone Casino
Verona, NY

12/05/06
Bergen PAC Center
Engelwood, NJ

12/06/06
Lyric Opera House
Baltimore, MD

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The new issue of Entertainment Weekly features brief rundowns of the seven Idol-affiliated album releases this fall (not counting Mario Vazquez, the Idol dropout)! The column takes its best guesses at the albums' prospects. Here's the essence of what they said about each:

Clay Aiken: "It appears those Claymates follow their leader no matter where his hair takes them."

[Translation: It's going to me a smash!]

Ruben Studdard: "The disc is still pretty standard R&B ... we're not counting out Celebrity Fit Club just yet."

[Translation: Not so sure about its potential success.]

Kellie Pickler: "Simple but sweet."

[Translation: They haven't heard any of it yet, are somewhat skeptical of Kellie's talent, but find her charming, and have no real idea how it will play in the country market.]

Fantasia Barrino: "Sounds promising, but plese, no more Lifetime flicks."

[Translation rendered unnecessary.]

Taylor Hicks: "'There's gonna be horns. I like to say brass with ass,'" Hicks is quoted as saying.

[Translation: Since it hasn't been recorded yet, they're a bit concerned, but who's really going to count out the Soul Patrol?]

Katharine McPhee: Quoting KIIS-FM/Los Angeles program director John Ivey: "'Katharine is a complete wild card.'"

[Translation: Diana DeGarmo redux? Let's hope not!]

Chris Daughtry: Quoting Ivey again: "'You can't come of American Idol and be this rock God.'"

[Translation: Chris may have a tough time getting airplay from credibility-obsessed rock radio stations that think anyone associated with Idol is a gimmick.]