American Idol 2003 "Ruben Studdard"

Christopher Ruben Studdard (born September 12, 1978) is an American pop, R&B, and gospel singer. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of American Idol. He received a Grammy Award nomination in December 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance

for "Superstar."

In the years following Idol, Studdard has released three studio albums. His fourth album is expected to be released in May 2009.

In addition to appearing on various television shows he has toured with Robin Givens in the comedy-drama Heaven I Need a Hug and in 2008 accepted the role of Fats Waller in a national tour of Ain't Misbehavin'.

Studdard, who was born in Frankfurt, Germany while his father was stationed there with the U.S. Army, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.^[3] The youngest son of two teachers, at the age of three he sang for the first time at the Rising Star Baptist Church in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. He continued singing gospel in church, performing solos as a child while his mother sang in the local choir. While at Huffman High School, he played football for which he received a scholarship to Alabama A&M University. While there he joined the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity.

After growing up listening to his mother's Donny Hathaway albums, Fred Hammond, and gospel music, Studdard began to pursue a career in the music industry, majoring in voice studies at Alabama A&M. He sang with Just a Few Cats, a popular local Birmingham jazz and R&B band founded by members of Ray Reach's UAB Jazz Ensemble, along with other local musicians. "A lot of people don't realize how hard I was trying to get into the business before American Idol," Studdard related several years later. "I was making demos and just working so hard." A back-up singer from Just a Few Cats asked him to accompany her to Nashville, Tennessee for an audition on the 2003 second season of "American Idol".

On June 28, 2008, Studdard married Surata Zuri McCants in a short, private ceremony outside of Birmingham, Alabama. There was no singing during the 30-minute ceremony - just an exchange of vows, prayers, and music provided by a string ensemble. Studdard wore a black tuxedo with white bow tie for the ceremony. His bride wore a white and ivory wedding gown.

American Idol 2003

When auditioning, Studdard sang Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon in the Sky." This guided him to being one of the local finalists. On American Idol, he impressed viewers with his performances of the Leon Russell/Bonnie Bramlett song "Superstar" (originally a hit for The Carpenters and Luther Vandross) and the Peabo Bryson/Regina Belle duet "A Whole New World"; during his time on the show, Studdard received praise from music legends such as Lionel Richie, Neil Sedaka, Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, Luther Vandross, and Gladys Knight.

During the televised competition, Studdard gained the nickname "Velvet Teddy Bear" and was noted for his shirts printed with "205", the telephone area code of his hometown of Birmingham. Studdard also did a cover version of "For All We Know", originally recorded by Donny Hathaway, whose music he grew up with.

He won the contest over runner-up Clay Aiken by only 134,000 votes out of 24,000,000 cast in the May 2003 finale, becoming the second American Idol winner and the first African American contestant and only male (as well as the oldest winner) to hold that title until 2006, when fellow Birmingham native Taylor Hicks won Idol's season five. On April 21, 2003, he also became the first American Idol winner to end up in the bottom 2 or 3 and the only male winner to do so, while Fantasia Barrino was also in the bottom 2 or 3 twice in the following season.

Alabama Governor Bob Riley declared 11 March 2003 as "Ruben Studdard Day".