- Born
- Birth nameClayton Holmes Grissom
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Clayton Holmes Grissom was born on November 30, 1978 in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Faye Aiken Parker and Vernon Grissom. When Clay was a teenager, he had a love for teaching and helping young children and later on studied to became a school teacher. When he was about 23 years old, a longtime friend persuaded him to audition for American Idol. When he was 25 years old he released his debut album, "Measure of a Man." (singles from his debut album include: "Invisible," "This Is The Night" and "The Way") His debut album sold over 600,000 copies in the USA in its first week of release. It has sold almost 2.5 million in the US as of 4/16/04.
- IMDb mini biography by: Stephanie Koston
- ChildrenParker Foster Aiken
- ParentsVernon GrissomRay ParkerFaye Aiken Parker
- RelativesBrett Parker(Half Sibling)
- His wink
- Earned his Bachelor's degree in Special Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
- Founded the National Inclusion Project (www.inclusionproject.org) to include children with developmental disabilities in activities with typical children. Named the foundation for Mike Bubel, a boy with autism that he worked with in North Carolina. Mike's mother Diane persuaded him to audition for American Idol.
- Was born with a collapsed lung.
- Was the one and only contestant on the 2nd season of American Idol that was never voted in the bottom two or three.
- Changed his last name, Grissom, to his mother's maiden name, Aiken.
- It doesn't really matter to me how I make a difference, I just wanna make sure that I do.
- I'm never really comfortable with people cheering for me.
- I think there's a difference between appearance and image. An image is not how you look. It's what you do. It's what you portray. Your personality, the example you set, and that's huge for me.
- American celebrities have an amazing amount of influence on the way America thinks, feels, and acts. I think that such an influence should be used in the most positive way possible.
- I'm religious. I think this is something God had planned for me.
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