Clay Aiken is an American singer, songwriter, television personality, actor, author, politician and activist. Aiken was the 2014 Democratic nominee in the North Carolina 2nd congressional district election.
Clay Aiken was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. As a young boy, Aiken sang in the Raleigh Boychoir and, as a teenager, he sang in school choirs, church choir, musicals and local theatre productions. After high school, he sang lead with a local band, Just By Chance, cohosting and performing with the band at Just by Chance and Friends shows in Dunn, North Carolina. He was also MC and performer at the Johnston Community College Country Showcase in Smithfield and at the North Carolina Music Connection and Hometown Music Connection shows in Garner, and Benson. He performed the national anthem numerous times for the Raleigh IceCaps and the Carolina Hurricanes hockey teams, and performed it at the 2011 NHL AllStar Game at the RBC Center in Raleigh. Three demo albums of Aikens vocals were created before American Idol with the aid of studio time given as a birthday gift by his mother a cassette called Look What Love Has Done , a cassette and CD entitled Redefined , and a CD that comb
Source: Wikipedia