Did You Know...

Clay Aiken was born on November 30, 1978 in Raleigh. From an early age, Aiken's family knew he had a special gift and talent. At the early age of five, Aiken performed the Dolly Parton/ Kenny Rogers classic hit, "Islands In the Stream," to a crowd at a local high school dance. At the age of seven, he was purchasing his own albums through a mail-order catalog. As a teenager, Aiken was a member of the Raleigh Boys Choir. He also acted in various musicals, including The Music Man, Oklahoma, and countless other stage plays.

Aiken dropped his music career, however, in college. He opted to be a Special Education major at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. He had hopes of eventually attending the prestigious William & Mary College in Virginia in order to attain a Master's Degree in Administration.

This all changed, however, during 2003 when Aiken was selected from 7,000 contestants as a runner-up in the Fox television show American Idol: The Search for a Super Star. While Clay Aiken lost out to Ruben Studdard by 134,400 of the 24 million votes, at times it was hard to determine who the real winner was. Shortly after the show, he was offered a record deal with RCA.