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Clay was born on November 30, 1978 in Raleigh, North Carolina to Vernon and Faye Grissom. His parents soon divorced, and he grew up in a household that included his mother, step-father Ray Parker and siblings Jeff, Amy and Brett. He started performing publicly at the age of five and was a member of the Raleigh Boys Choir when he was a teen-ager. He also found time to perform in musicals and stage plays, but decided to give up his budding music career when he went to college. At that time, he legally changed his last name to his mother's middle name (Aiken) and planned to major in special education at the University of North Carolina. This plan changed in 2003 when he was selected from 7,000 contestants as a runner-up in the Fox Television Show "American Idol: The Search for a Super Star". Singing the Simon and Garfunkel classic, "Bridge Over Troubled waters" he placed second behind Ruben Studdard, but he won the hearts of the fans and a record contract with RCA. His debut single, "This Is The Night" was number one on the Billboard hot 100. In October 2003, he released his debut album entitled "The Measure of a Man". It went straight to number one on the Billboard Chart Top 2000. With such great talent, the tall, lanky singer is sure to have continued success and a long career.
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