People: Time for Clay to break the mold?
Clay Aiken is realistic about his niche in the musical landscape.
“I’m not cool, you know what I mean? I’m not gonna lie,” the good-humored singer says.
“I’m not trying to be Justin Timberlake. Thank God we have him, but I’m not him. … I’m not gonna bring anybody’s sexy back.”
Aiken embraces his pop-lite sensibility on “On My Way Here,” his first album of all-new material in more than four years, which reaches stores today.
The 29-year-old “American Idol” alum – he placed second to Ruben Studdard in Season 2 – was the first non-winner to release a successful album, “Measure of a Man,” which went double platinum in 2003.
Aiken followed that up with two cover albums: “Merry Christmas With Love” and “A Thousand Different Ways.”
The new ballad “The Real Me,” about living in the spotlight, hits close to home for him.
“It’s amazing how I meet people all the time who think they know me,” Aiken says.
“I just did an interview a minute ago with someone (who) said, ‘You used to be a nanny right? That’s so great.’ And I was like, ‘Nooo!’ “
The author formerly known as …
Prince is moving from the musical world to the literary realm.
“21 Nights,” a “photographic essay” offering “a rare glimpse into the life, lyrics and mystique” of the maker of such hits as “1999” and “Purple Rain,” will be published come fall.
It’s based on his 21 sold-out concerts in as many nights at London’s O2 Arena in 2007.
Black-gowned woman
Country singer Gretchen Wilson will no longer be among the 20 percent of Tennesseans without a high school diploma.
The 34-year-old “Redneck Woman” singer, who dropped out of school in ninth grade, passed her General Educational Development exam and will don a cap and gown during a May 15 graduation ceremony.
Wilson says her 7-year-old daughter was the big reason to finally finish, explaining, “I certainly don’t want her to think you can be this successful without an education.”
Rough May for Avril
Avril Lavigne has postponed four more shows on her current tour, including Friday’s Spokane concert, because of laryngitis.
The Canadian singer, who previously bowed out of perforamnces in Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles and Anaheim, also has shelved dates in Santa Barbara, San Jose and Everett.
Shaken, not stirred
Producer Mark Ronson says he and Amy Winehouse have abandoned recording the theme for the new James Bond film because the troubled singer is not ready to work.
Ronson, who produced much of Winehouse’s multiple Grammy-winning “Back to Black,” says they started work on a track for “Quantum of Solace,” but it would take “some miracle of science” to finish it.
British police gave Winehouse a formal warning last week after she scuffled with two men during a raucous night out.
The birthday bunch
Singer Bob Seger is 63. TV host Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”) is 53. Actress Roma Downey is 48. Actor George Clooney is 47.