AIKEN NEWS NEWORK FEBRUARY 16, 2011

[Marilyn]

Clay Aiken, “Double Stop” & “Becky’s New Car”Posted Wednesday, February 16, 2011

 
Share  Dee Perry shares her conversation with American Idol phenom Clay Aiken who performs this weekend at PlayhouseSquare. And we meet the man behind the long-forgotten film Double-Stop which gets a rebirth this weekend at The Cinematheque. Plus, why a man commissioned a play for his wife's birthday, as we spotlight the new Actors Summit production - Becky's New Car.

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[Marilyn]

Clay Aiken believes the music should be about the singer
By Kellie B. Gormly, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Clay Aiken
When: 8 p.m. Friday

Admission: $47-$57

Where: Carnegie Library Music Hall, 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall

Details: 412-368-5225 or website

About the writer
Kellie B. Gormly is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 412-320-7824 or via e-mail.

Pop star Clay Aiken sometimes wonders whether he was born in the wrong era, since he has such an affinity for oldies music from his parents' time, in the '50s and '60s.

With two musician parents, music was always playing around the North Carolina home where Aiken grew up. Some of the old favorites he heard all the time -- like "Suspicious Minds," "It's Only Make Believe," "Moon River" and "Crying" -- ended up as cuts on his fifth studio album, "Tried and True," his first with Decca Records. Aiken, who is bringing his "Tried and True" tour to Munhall on Friday, says he feels right at home on this album, which was almost effortless.

"When I started singing, these were the songs that fit into the category of great melodies sung by people who could really sing," Aiken says. "It feels like a glove."

"Tried and True," Aiken says, is about "beautiful melody and beautiful songs, rather than being radio-friendly."

That's the way music should be, he says -- but today, that often isn't the case. Modern music, he says, can sound like the musical equivalent of airbrushing.

"I just think music then was about the melody, and it was about the song, and it was about the singer," he says. "I definitely see that it ... takes talent to do a lot of the stuff that was on the radio.

"Now, the performer doesn't necessarily have the talent," Aiken says. "The producer has the talent. Back in the 50s and 60s, they sang it live while they scratched it onto vinyl. That's how good they were."

"Tried and True," which came out in June of last year, includes two songs -- "Unchained Melody" and "Mack the Knife" -- that Aiken sang when he was a contestant on the second season of "American Idol." Aiken has given up on his training grounds and no longer watches "Idol" regularly, though he acknowledges the show's importance on his path.

"Once you know how the sausage is made, it's a little tougher to eat it," he says. Aiken watched the season after his, and it brought back nervous memories. "When people would get cut ... I found myself being transported mentally to that stressful environment. My palms were sweating. It made me horribly nervous.

"I have no doubt about the fact that I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for high school, but ... I don't go back to the football games," Aiken says.

Aiken does much more than sing. He has appeared on many television shows, including "The Insider," "The Morning Show," "All My Children" and "Days of Our Lives." Aiken does charity work as chairman and co-founder of the National Inclusion Project, which helps children with disabilities, and he also works as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. In 2008, Aiken made his Broadway debut in the musical "Monty Python's Spamalot," as Sir Robin.

That same year, Aiken came out publicly as gay, although he had been out for awhile to many people close to him. It wasn't as hard to come out as it seemed, says the born-again Christian.

"I think Christians get a bad rap sometimes because the loud mouthpieces are more hypocritical," Aiken says. "I know plenty of Christians who are supportive and loving and accepting."

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