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Clay Aiken (born Clayton Holmes) is an American popular music singer who rose to fame on the American Idol television program, and who has become the most successful second-place finisher in that show's history.
Clay Aiken, who changed his last name from Grissom to his mother's maiden name, was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Clay Aiken attended Raleigh's Leesville Road High School before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Although Clay Aiken's American Idol activities temporarily delayed his academic pursuits, Clay Aiken graduated with a bachelor's degree in special education in December of 2003. Clay Aiken found his interest in special education while directing YMCA childrens' camps as a teenager; at age 19 Clay Aiken served as a substitute teacher for a classroom of students with autism at Brentwood Elementary School. While attending college in Charlotte Clay Aiken 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.
Television viewers' first glimpse of Clay Aiken came during the audition episodes at the beginning of American Idol's second season. The show's judges first saw Clay Aiken as a nerdy type unlikely to be any kind of idol, but they were immediately impressed once he began singing Heatwave's "Always and Forever." The clip of the judges' surprise during this audition performance was replayed many times over the course of the competition.
Clay Aiken made it to the round-of-32, but was cut from the show on his first try, a performance of Journey's "Open Arms." He finished third in his semifinal group of eight behind eventual winner Ruben Studdard and eventual third-place finisher Kimberley Locke. However, during the "wild card" round, Clay Aiken 's well-received performance of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" propelled him into the final 12. Within the first few weeks, Clay Aiken (aided by a makeover from the show's producers), and Studdard emerged as the clear favorites of both the judges and the fans. While Clay Aiken was especially noted for his performance of ballads, such as the dramatically-lit rendition of Neil Sedaka's "Solitaire," his upbeat performances, including The Foundations' "Build Me Up Buttercup," were also met with considerable enthusiasm from the voters.
In the end, Clay Aiken came in a close second in the contest, with Studdard winning by a narrow margin. (The result was somewhat controversial as some hypothesized that Idol's voting system was incapable of handling the number of attempted calls, thereby possibly yielding a random result.) Though the show's "first runner-up," he has since gone on to be the second season's best-selling star.
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