Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

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.

Biography

Early life

Studdard, who was born in Frankfurt, Germany while his father was stationed there with the U.S. Army, grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.² 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 and received a scholarship in that sport 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, graduating in 2000. 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."³ 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".

Personal life

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. ⁴

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 finale⁵, becoming the second American Idol winner and the first 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, 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".⁶

2003-2004: Soulful

Debut Album: Soulful

Studdard released his first single, a cover of Westlife's "Flying Without Wings" (which he had sung on the show's finale), produced by the Underdogs and Face, a month later in June 2003. Fueled largely by sales, it debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 2003, advance orders for his album Soulful topped the 1 million mark before it was released into stores. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart that month, selling over 400,000 copies in its first week and attaining the highest first-week sales of any American Idol winner. The single "Sorry 2004" from this album found substantial airplay, reaching #9 in the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard R&B singles chart. Studdard received a Grammy Award nomination in December 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Superstar", nominated with his idol Luther Vandross (Vandross won that category). In March 2004, Ruben won the NAACP Outstanding New Artist award.

2004: I Need An Angel

Studdard released the gospel album I Need an Angel on November 23, 2004. The title track and first single "I Need an Angel" was a cover of a 2002 single performed by R&B singer Daniel DeBourg and written by R. Kelly. The album sold over 96,000 copies in its first week, it also entered the Gospel charts at #1, opened at #20 on the Billboard 200 chart, it since has sold over 500,000 copies. It was also #1 on the 2005 Billboard Year-End Gospel Albums Chart. As of June 2007, Studdard is the fifth-best selling American Idol performer with more than 2.4 million albums sold in the U.S.

In March 2005, Studdard filed a lawsuit against his godfather and business advisor Ronald Edwards. The suit alleges that Edwards ran up $156,000 on Studdard's credit cards and stole $90,000 from his checking account. Edwards filed a countersuit. On June 15, 2006, Studdard was awarded $500,000 for personal losses and another $1.5 million in punitive damages.⁷

Studdard has worked as an actor in several, mostly minor, roles, including single-episode appearances on the television series 8 Simple Rules, Life on a Stick, All of Us, and Eve, as well as a cameo appearance in the film Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. He has also appeared on a television commercial for a Birmingham-area Kia dealer.

Between his second and third albums, Studdard began a diet and fitness program to deal with his weight, out of concern for a family history of diabetes and hypertension. Studdard lost over 70 pounds on a vegetarian diet. ^{8 9}

2006-2008: The Return

Third Album: The Return

Studdard's third album, The Return was released in October 2006; it goes back to his R&B roots, but is different from his previous efforts. Studdard is collaborating with the artist Ne-Yo on this album, along with a variety of producers. The single "Change Me" was released ahead of the album. The Return sold 71,000 copies in its first week to open at #8 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but sales declined rapidly after that, not approaching those of his earlier albums. However, Studdard did have good success on the Urban Contemporary chart with "Change Me" (which reached #1) and its successor "Make Ya Feel Beautiful". Studdard continued to tour saying he would play a variety of music: "Coming out to my show is like coming to my house. I'll play the songs I love. It's like a party. For me, a party has all different types of music happening."³

Studdard appeared on the finale of American Idol season 6 in May 2007. He spent a few weeks touring with Robin Givens in the comedy-drama Heaven I Need a Hug and prepared to take on the role of Fats Waller in a national tour of Ain't Misbehavin' in 2008. ¹⁰ The tour is scheduled to begin November 17, 2008 in Atlanta, GA and end May 14, 2009 in Syracuse, NY. ¹¹

In December 2007, it was announced that Studdard had been dropped from his record company, J Records, due to poor sales of The Return and "[falling] short of expectations."¹² He remained under contract with 19 Recordings, however.¹³ As such he was assigned the high-profile position of performing the American Idol season 7 farewell song, a recording of Kenny Loggins' "Celebrate Me Home", in a new version produced by Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam. ¹³

Studdard performed "Celebrate Me Home" live on May 20, 2008 at the Nokia Theatre for the first night of the two-night Grand Finale of American Idol's seventh season.

Acting

Ruben appeared in an episode of One On One as himself & in an episode of All Of Us as an older Bobby. He also appeared in the 8 Simple Rules episode where CJ's dad comes; Ruben played a delivery boy who CJ mistakes for his father. He greets him by hugging him and saying, "You have always been my idol," referring to his win on Idol. Studdard also appeared on an episode of Eve as Paul, Janie's younger brother who has a huge crush on Shelly.

Awards and nominations

• American Music Awards
  • 2004, Favorite Male R&B/Soul Artist: (Nominated)

• BET Awards
  • 2005, Best Gospel Artist: (Nominated)
  • 2004, Best New Artist: (Nominated)
  • 2004, Best Male R&B Artist: (Nominated)

• Grammy Awards
  • 2004, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: "Superstar" (Nominated)

• Image Awards
  • 2004, Outstanding New Artist: Soulful (Winner)

• Soul Train Awards
  • 2004, Best New R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist: "Superstar" (Nominated)

Discography

Albums

Singles

Filmography

• Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
• Natural Born Komics (2006) (direct-to-DVD)

References

External links

• Official website
• Ruben Studdard at American Idol
• Ruben Studdard at MySpace
• Official Foundation site
• Ruben Studdard at the Internet Movie Database