Well, it certainly has been an eventful year in the life of one Clay Aiken. For the media and the fans, I suspect the biggest news of all was Clay revealing that he is gay. It was a subject that tended to overshadow every aspect of Clay's life even though it was something that he wanted, and had the right, to keep private. Clay explained his reasons for going ahead and discussing the subject publicly in this way:
Gone are the days when entertainers could go about their lives without the invasion of privacy that we now see everyday in the form of paparazzi and internet tabloid bloggers. So, in the hopes of being able to sing and act (and dance poorly) and do what I love to do for a living while raising my son in a hopefully more private and accepting environment, I chose to go ahead and confront things head on. Yes, I would have preferred to separate my personal life from my professional life. I would have been just as happy to go on without discussing my orientation. But, it seems like that was not an option. [...] But, living as myself without discussing my sexuality publicly would have been as impossible. One chance to expose the truth would have been a payday for any greedy opportunist.
Now that everyone knows all about Clay, maybe we can focus more on the person that he is rather than worrying so much about his sexual orientation. As Clay says:
[...] representative of most every other gay man and woman in the world, [...] I am not defined by my sexuality. No more so than each of you are defined by your sexual orientation. No more than a man or woman is defined by race or ethnicity. It is, simply, a small facet of the same person I have always been. Most of you realize that nothing has changed. I hope to continue being able to entertain you in the same way I have for the past five years. And I hope you will allow me to continue to inform you of the causes that I find important and entertain you with the music and performances I love. For I love and cherish you all. Yesterday, now and forever.
For Clay, I think the biggest thing to happen to him this year was becoming a father. On August 8, he and Jaymes Foster became the proud parents of Parker Foster Aiken. A dream come true for both of them. I doubt there is any child that will be more loved and cherished than Parker.
It is interesting when Clay is discussed in some publications, they seem to focus entirely on the fact that he was in American Idol over five years ago... and he's gay. Every other accomplishment seems to be of little note, yet he has accomplished so much! Let us cover what he has been doing just in the past year.
Clay started the year with a bang. He debuted to rave reviews on Broadway in the role of Sir Robin in the award winning musical
Monty Python's SPAMALOT. And Broadway loved Clay. He proved that not only is he a great singer, but he can act... and even dance! And the role has given him the chance to show off his comedic abilities also, which the fans were well aware of, but I don't think very many other people realized that he could be so funny.
And during all the time that he was working hard on Broadway, he was also working hard recording a new album. And in May he released his fourth full-length CD "On My Way Here". A wonderful album of original material that was produced by Kipper (who is famous for his work with Sting) and backed up by such stellar musicians as Keith Carlock, Freddie Washington, Jon Herington and Jeff Young which, it turns out, are the musicians from the Steely Dan band!
After leaving
SPAMALOT in May and going on an intense round of promotion for "On My Way Here", Clay turned to his other great passion... his work as a UNICEF Ambassador. In June he traveled to Somalia in order to see firsthand UNICEF-supported projects to promote child health, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, primary education, child protection and girls' empowerment.
From there Clay went on to travel to Kenya in order to visit camps for internally displaced people in Eldoret. Thousands of children were made homeless by the violence that took place after the Kenya elections in early 2008. He saw many homes in ruins and people struggling to get back on their feet. UNICEF was there to help provide classroom tents and School-in-a-Box kits to start the children back to school to help restore a sense of normalcy in their lives.
Then Clay came back home and a few weeks later had the experience of his life with the birth of his son. And soon after that momentous event, we found out that Clay would be returning to
SPAMALOT in September.
In September Clay made a triumphant return to Broadway and made headlines with his interviews discussing his decision to talk about becoming a father and being gay.
Then in October was The Bubel/Aiken Foundation's
Fifth Annual Champions of Change Gala where Clay Aiken and Diane Bubel presented the Champions of Change Awards to Dan Habid and Betsy McNamara for their documentary "Including Samuel"; Rich Donavan for creating means of empowerment for people with disabilities; and CVS Caremark for their efforts to improve the lives of children with disabilities.
There was also an auction at the gala which raised over $500,000 to help the Foundation to provide children with disabilities the opportunity to play, learn and grow side-by-side with their typical peers.
And now the year is winding down and in a few days Clay's run in
SPAMALOT will be over. Clay has said that he plans to return to North Carolina with Jaymes and Parker so that he can spend some time with his new son, but he assures us that he's not quitting or anything! I can't wait to see what he has planned for the next year!
Posts
