In January of 2004 Clay's appeared in a variety of print media. He was featured in Teen, People, The Rolling Stone yearbook, Star, Globe and the National Enquirer.
Feb. 6/04 Arena Mangers Conference
The Independent Tour, co-headlined by Clay & Kelly Clarkson, was mentioned in one of the panel discussions held at this conference. The participants represented agencies that book concerts into venues across the USA.
Charlotte Observer - Clay shines in city he calls 'home' - 2/25/04 - Even tour partner Kelly Clarkson gets in on the fans' adulation of Aiken - COURTNEY DEVORES
The Tampa Tribune - Vocal Fans Idolize Aiken's Endearing Touches - WALT BELCHER - February 28, 2004
Mar 24, 2009 4:02 PM
Clay Aiken Kids
Clay visits Manufacturing firm for his foundation View
This February article is about a visit Clay paid to a manufacturing firm in connection with his Foundation. The company sure got a surprise when Clay himself walked in!
In February of 2004 there was a variety of articles about Clay. Billboard featured Clay in their Platinum Stars issue, Popstar, Collegiate Standard, Triangle, In Touch, and even BMG Music Catalog all had mentions of Clay.
040326 - Idol Talk - Clay Aiken -- who performs with Kelly Clarkson on Saturday -- is still a nice guy from North Carolina - By DOUG ELFMAN - REVIEW-JOURNAL
On 3/8/04 Clay appeared on 20/20 on ABC News. Elizabeth Vargas interviewed Clay as part of a segment called "Second Acts". Oksana Baiul, Johnny Depp and Tom Jones were also featured.
On 3/6/04 Clay and Ruben appeared on CNN: People in the News. It was described as the making of an American Idol: the transformation of Ruben Studdard & Clay Aiken from virtual unknowns into mega-selling pop stars.
On 3/15/04 after a sold out concert the previous night, Clay did an autograph session at a local Krispy Kreme donut shop in Winston-Salem. Sales during his visit went to the Bubel Aiken Foundation. The first 150 people in line got to go in and meet Clay and get one autograph and have their group picture taken.
In March of 2004 Clay went from a chimp to BOP. He appeared in a National Geographic Kid's Edition...sort of. There was also a poster of him in BOP Magazine.
On 3/2/04, Clay stopped by the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University in Philadelphia during 'Read across America day'. He read 'Did I ever tell you how lucky you are?' to a group of local area elementary school students.
On 3/16/04, A second single from Measure of a Man was released. "The Way" and "Solitaire". Although the video for "The Way" did well on TRL on MTV, Solitaire ended up being the song which gained more radio acceptance.
On 3/1/04 Lynda Loveland from WRAL in Raleigh was given a look backstage at the Independent Tour and on the tour bus. Clay also dropped by the studio to chat with the anchors.
In May 2004 Clay appeared in a few different magazines. He was featured in the BMG Music catalog, Country Music Magazine, Videosyncracy, and Lime Magazine.
On 5/4/04, Clay's song Invisible appeared on a compilation cd called Totally Hits 2004.
Mar 24, 2009 4:46 AM
Clay Aiken Kids
Without You included on Kim Locke's One Love CD View
May 4, 2004: Kimberley Locke released her first CD, "One Love". It included a duet with Clay on a song called "Without You". Kim had surprised the crowd by turning up to sing the song live with Clay on April 3, 2004 at the Anaheim stop of 'The Independent Tour'. Clay had been performing it with Quiana, his back-up singer.
040730 - Courier Times - Clay Aiken speaks at a rapid rate for a Raleigh, N.C. native. - By Ed Condran
Mar 31, 2009 3:10 PM
Clay Aiken Kids
Arthur Celebrity Audiobook 'Stories for Heroes' Series View
On 7/2/04, Clay lent his voice to the Arthur Celebrity Audiobook Stories for Heroes Series. Celebrity readers included Clay Aiken, Tom Arnold, Kevin Bacon, Daisy Fuentes, Marcia Gay Harden, Cheri Oteri, Jeff Probst, Kelly Ripa and the author Marc Brown. Over 70% of the proceeds went to benefit children's charities including the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation, the National Education Association Health Information Network, and The Bubel Aiken Foundation.
In 2004, The Bubel Aiken Foundation raised enough money to pay for 10 weeks of camp combined in Concord, Raleigh, and Kansas City. Clay said, "It's kids with disabilities, without disabilities, all in the same program all doing the same exact thing. They're all having the same exact camp experience so it's exactly what we wanted to do." In June of 2005, The Bubel Aiken Foundation teamed with Cannon Memorial YMCA to open Camp Gonzo in North Concord, NC.
In July of 2004 there were a number of mentions of Clay in magazines. He was on the cover of the Colorado Springs Style Magazine. He also was featured in "In Touch" when they chose the PBS special as the one event to watch. Last but not least, People magazine featured two short items about Clay.
In July of 2004 Clay appeared in the Caregiver Magazine. He was also featured on the cover. The magazine was marking it's ninth anniversary when they featured an in-depth interview with Clay.
Clay was mentioned in the book 'Shine' by Larry H. Thompson. He is among many stars used as examples of traits & characteristics that the author identifies which allow some people to 'shine' in their professions.
Mr. Thompson's book can be ordered from Amazon among other on-line sources.
On 9/20/04, Clay became part of the Disney family with his performance of "Proud of your boy" on the DVD special edition release of Aladdin. Buena Vista Home Entertainment also became the title sponsor of Clay's first tour. Disney also supported the Bubel Aiken Foundation, Make-A-Wish and Disney Hands charities at the concerts.
On 9/30/04 Lynda Loveland from WRAL did an interview with Clay as he was putting the finishing touches on his Christmas CD and preparing for his closing solo tour concerts in Charlotte and Raleigh. She showed Clay at work at the 'Sonic Wave Studios" and showed him singing a bit of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". Lynda also revealed that Clay had recently bought a house.
On October 9, 2004 a fan discovered the new NBC Christmas compilation CD 'Sounds of the season 2004' at her local Target store. The CD had a lovely version of 'Mary Did You Know', which would also appear on Clay's 'Merry Christmas With Love' CD which was to be released in November. This version was slightly different as it had 'clicks' (like snapping fingers) in the background track that are not present on the MCWL edition. For the collector who simply *must* have everything, this version is well worth the search!
On 10/23/04, Clay took part in an auction called The Mask Project. Some celebrities painted masks themselves and others just autographed them. The masks were then auctioned off to support the Hospice of Michigan.
On 11/13/04, the Bettendorf Library had a Doodle Day auction to raise money for their library and their programs. They raised more than 27,000. Donald Trump and Clay were the two top bids.
Mar 24, 2009 5:01 AM
Clay Aiken Kids
Larry King Live - UNICEF Ambassador announcement View
On 11/15/04 Clay appeared on Larry King Live for an exclusive interview. They discussed a number of topics including Clay's book, cd and upcoming tv special. however, the big surprise was that Clay announced he had been asked by UNICEF to be one of their goodwill ambassadors. His focus would be on educational issues, a perfect fit for the Special education major.
On 11/16/04 Randomhouse released Clay Aiken's Learning to Sing, an inspirational memoir. The book was available as an audiobook with an abridged and unabridged version.
In November of 2004, Clay appeared in various magazine and newspaper clips. These included the Chicago Tribune, Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, and In Touch magazine.
During the week of 11/14/04 - 11/20/04 TV Guide had a focus article and cover about Clay. The article was called The sweet sound of Success and they carried an excerpt from his book, Learning to sing as well as talking about his career.
On 12/14/04 A Clay Aiken Christmas went on sale. This DVD includes everything from Clay's 2004 television special except for Megan Mullally's appearance. Barry Manilow, Yolanda Adams and Quiana Parler all are featured.
Merry Christmas with Love had very impressive first week sales. It was the top holiday album, the top Christian album and the fourth top debut on the top 200 chart.
In December of 2004 Clay showed up in a few Asian articles. A picture of him singing Mack the Knife was part of a cover collage for "Television Asia". There was an article in "8 Days Magazine", and a brief item in "Lime Magazine".
In December 2004 there was a good bit of Media. Fountaindawg has broken it up into different parts. People, People Picks and Pans, Twist Magazine, Tampa Tribune, and the News and Chronicle are listed here.
Selling strongly from the day of its release, 'Merry Christmas With Love' ended up as the ' Best Selling Christmas Album of 2004'. A lot of Christmas music lovers had a new favourite in their collections!
In December 2004 Clay appeared in Popstar Magazine. He talked about Kelly, answered VIQ questions, and was one of their posters. There was even a picture of an RCA promotional photo!!!
01 - January
