Ruben Studdard

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singer

Personal Information

Born Christopher Ruben Studdard in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, July 14, 1978
Education: Attended Alabama A&M University, 1999-2002.

Career

Amateur musician, mid-1990s-2003; customer service representative, 2002; J Records, recording artist, 2003-.

Life's Work

Dubbed the "Velvet Teddy Bear" by soul singer Gladys Knight and described as "honey-voiced" in Jet, this bear-like singer-with-a-dream was crowned the Fox Network's "American Idol" by viewers across the nation in May of 2003. Wooing audiences and Idol judges with his gentle, satiny renditions of "Ribbon in the Sky," "A House Is Not a Home," "Imagine," and his signature "Flying without Wings," the six-foot-four, 300-plus-pound Ruben Studdard emerged as king from among 70,000 other American dreamers who auditioned for the popular television talent show. Because he jumped so quickly from amateur singer to professional recording artist, music-industry insiders are not yet convinced that Studdard's talent and star quality are enduring. "Studdard doesn't have the range of most soul singers," Gemma Tarlach, music critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, wrote in April of 2004. "And as a songwriter he's an unknown quantity, without a single credit to his name. But what the 25-year old does have is an easy, earnest charm, which goes a long way when too many performers treat fans with surly indifference."

Dreamed of Stardom

Born Christopher Ruben Studdard on July 14, 1978, in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany, Studdard--known to family as Chris--grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. His parents, Kevin and Emily, were both teachers, secondary and elementary, respectively. His father also owned the Kevin Studdard & Sons Body Shop.

According to Studdard and his family, he began singing as early as memories begin--when he was about three years old. In a 2004 interview with CBS's The Early Show, Studdard described his mother as a strong encourager of his professional singing goals. "Mom did a lot," Studdard said. "She really was active in my career, you know, with making sure that I got to places I needed to be, like choir concerts and musicals and plays." "I kind of took his lead with things," Mrs. Studdard explained. "If he said that he wanted to be in something and I knew that it was legit, I would take him and just be there for him and with him." Studdard's grandmother, Hattie Williams, also supported Studdard's pursuit of a singing career. "He always said he had a dream," Williams told The Early Show. "He loved to sing, and he said one day his dream will come true."

Studdard trained his voice with the school's music teacher and landed a place in several school performances during his four years at Huffman High School. He also performed in his church choir and participated in the gospel group God's Gift. He also joined with friends to form the jazz and soul group Just a Few Cats. After high school, Studdard began attending Alabama A&M University on a football scholarship. After his freshman year, he abandoned football to dedicate his studies and time to developing his voice for a professional singing career. Without completing his degree, Studdard left the university after three and a half years in December of 2002 to audition in Nashville, Tennessee, for Fox's American Idol show, a televised talent contest judged by a celebrity panel and the national viewing audience. The winner is awarded a recording contract with a major record label, complete with promotional image and touring support.

Became American Idol

Studdard made the Nashville cuts and found himself on Fox's televised competition. All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Studdard's presence on the Fox stage as distinct from the other Idol hopefuls, writing, "Where most of his competitors were pop star wannabes hungry to win the competition, Ruben was quiet and exceedingly laid-back, impressing audiences and judges alike with his large voice and easy confidence." Studdard's American Idol rival, Clay Aiken, was really a good friend, though at a glance, the large, African-American Studdard appeared to be a polar opposite to the slight, Caucasian Aiken. Yet, the competing singers were essentially quite similar in background and perspective. They both grew up in the South, both were church going and spiritually grounded, and both seemed to harbor only the best wishes for the other. Reporting on how Aiken and Studdard were coping with the hype prior to the final Idol showdown, Newsweek's Marc Peyser and Sean M. Smith observed, "Despite all the insanity, Aiken and Studdard appear to have kept their egos in check and their friendship intact. They still have a prayer circle before every show, and they still goof off backstage."

On May 21, 2003, Studdard was crowned American Idol before nearly 40 million voters, about 600,000 more than those who tuned in for the 2003 Academy Awards program. According to Nielsen Media Research, roughly 27 million American Idol viewers had judged the sing-off between Aiken and Studdard the evening before, casting about 260 million phone votes. Studdard won by a mere 134,400 votes. Determined to remain humble even after his big win, Studdard told USA Today only days after his Idol inauguration, "I'm still the same Ruben--just with extra people hanging around."

The jerseys Studdard sported on the American Idol stage--featuring his hometown area code of 205--became the subject of a lawsuit in August of 2003, when Studdard filed suit against jersey-maker 205 Flava Inc. Studdard claimed that 205 Flava profited from using his image to sell its shirts. The company's owners, brothers Frederick and Will Jenkins, explained that they had paid Studdard to wear the jerseys on American Idol, a practice expressly banned by Fox. By December of 2003, Studdard and Flava 205 had settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

After his Idol coronation, Studdard was an instant celebrity, just as the show promised. On June 8, 2003, Studdard began shooting his first music video in Birmingham, Alabama. The "Flying without Wings" video offered Studdard's fans images of his pre-Idol life, complete with his mother Emily and several of her students who appeared as extras, shots of his home church, Rising Star Baptist, and the home of his grandmother. Studdard's hometown embraced his new celebrity status. "Everyone has been 'Rubenized' as we call it," Studdard's cousin Demetra Studdard told Jet in June 2003. "It has brought the whole state together. No matter what race. It's not a Black or White thing.... He has really shown a big light on Alabama."

Life after 'American Idol"

When Studdard was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003 for his cover of "Superstar," he chose to take his mother to the ceremony as his guest. Studdard told The Early Show, "I took my mom to the Grammys because, I think, for her it was kind of like a graduation. I never finished college." About the same time, Studdard bought his mother a brand new Ford Thunderbird.

Although he won a NAACP Image Award in 2004, Studdard recognized that his success emerged from a mixture of his talent and plain good luck. "My hat's off to the people that get a recording deal," Studdard told National Public Radio's All Things Considered in April of 2004. "I mean, it really is about who you know, 'cause it's really about who can get that tape to that person who really needs to hear it, you know. Because I believe if God's Gift would have ever gotten a tape to somebody who could really do something for them, we probably would be one of the largest gospel groups in the country right now."

Time's Josh Tyrangiel supported Studdard's statement about the industry in the same NPR interview, explaining that American Idol made singers famous not just for their talent but also for their personal stories. "Had [Studdard] made it, it would have been a really tough sell because it would have been just another guy with a nice voice coming out," Tryangiel said. "And the fact is that the market is flooded with people like that. What we don't have on the market are people who have theses great stories...." What's more, American Idol captured a market audience who "prefer[s] an innocent love song to today's sexually explicit lyrics," Tryangiel observed.

After American Idol, runner-up Aiken was in the spotlight as much, or more than, the first-place Studdard. Aiken's debut album, Measure of a Man, appeared in stores eight weeks before Studdard's Soulful. And Aiken's sales were stronger, landing him on magazine covers and television shows. Studdard and Aiken nonetheless insisted that they maintained a rivalry free friendship, despite rumors to the contrary. "He's my friend," Studdard told freelance journalist Gary Graff in the Plain Dealer. "I personally think it's just the media trying to perpetuate a competition spirit between me and him."

RCA, parent company to Studdard's recording label, J Records, preordered 1.3 million copies of Studdard's first solo release, Soulful, which appeared on store shelves on December 9, 2003. Produced by the label's legendary founder Clive Davis, the album featured emotionally upbeat tracks, some covers, and some original sings, with celebrity guest appearances by Fred Hammond, Fat Joe, R. Kelly, and Missy Elliott. "I was just trying to get some records that people would have fun listening to," Studdard told USA Today's Steve Jones. "I didn't want to have a melancholy record."

Soulful reaped mixed reviews. Rolling Stone's Barry Walters called the album "very poor," writing "This has little to do with Studdard himself, although, like the other idols, he's essentially an imitative singer; he hasn't learned how to fill his pretty tenor pipes with convincing emotion, something painfully clear on his ill-advised cover of the Bee Gees' 'How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.'" People's Chuck Arnold called Studdard's rendition of the Bee Gee's cover "exquisite" in his largely positive review of Soulful, writing "the album does a good job of translating to record the cuddly Velvet Teddy Bear charm that won over Idol fans, resulting in a likable if unspectacular set."

The album's first-released single, "Sorry 2004," which was widely played on Top 40 and R&B radio stations across the nation during the spring of 2004, was a lyric of apology that a man might express to a woman he has wronged. The track sold more than 300,000 copies as a single in its first week. Studdard took the entire Soulful playlist with him on the road for a national tour. His touring band included band mates from Just a Few Cats.

In the fall of 2003 Studdard told Ebony that all that changed with his stardom was that "a lot of people know me now." Other than that, he said he remained the same person. About his career, Studdard said, "I want to be around for a long time. I don't want to be a one-hit wonder. I want to make sure I continue to make good music that my mom and everybody around me can be proud of." At the close of 2003, Studdard launched his own record label, Real Music Records. He immediately signed Chicago rapper Gutta and Alabama singer Kevin Bennett. In 2004, Studdard began looking into opening a restaurant. A lyric from Studdard's "Flying Without Wings" captures the moral of his inspirational story: "So impossible as they may seem, you've got to fight for every dream, 'cause who's to know which one you let go would have made you complete."

Awards

Grammy Award nomination, 2003; NAACP Image Award, 2004; Teen Choice Award nominations, 2004.

Works

Selected discography

• Soulful, J Records, 2003.

Further Reading

Periodicals

• Chicago Sun Times, December 24, 2003, p. 62.
• Ebony, September 2003, p. 24.
• Jet, June 9, 2003, p. 58; June 30, 2003, p. 40.
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 12, 2004, p. 6B.
• Newsweek, May 26, 2003, p. 53.
• People, June 23, 2003, p. 22; December, 22, 2003, p. 63; January 12, 2004, p. 43.
• Plain Dealer (Cleveland), April 9, 2004, p. 4.
• Rolling Stone, January 26, 2003, p. 16; January, 22, 2004, p. 70.
• Time, October 5, 2003.
• Us Weekly, July 7-14, 2003, p. 38.
• USA Today, May 22, 2003, p. D1; December 8, 2003, p. D1.

On-line

• American Idol, www.fox.com/idol2/home.htm (June 2, 2004).
• E! Online, www.eonline.com (June 2, 2004).
• "MTV News Archive: Ruben Studdard," MTV.com, www.mtv.com/news/bands/studdard_ruben.jhtml (June 29, 2004).
• "Ruben Studdard's Big Career," All Things Considered, April 4, 2004, www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1832619 (June 29, 2004).
• "Ruben Studdard's Big Love," The Early Show, www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/07/earlyshow/saturday/main616271.shtml (June 2, 2004).

— Melissa Walsh

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For The Record...

Born Christopher Ruben Studdard on September 12, 1978, in Frankfurt, Germany, to American parents. Education: Alabama A&M University (voice studies), 2000. Awards: Winner, American Idol television talent contest, 2003; NAACP Outstanding New Artist Award, 2004. Addresses: Record company—J Records, 745 5th Ave., New York, NY 10151.

Singer

Gospel/R&B singer Ruben Studdard first came to the public's attention when he became the winner of the talent contest show American Idol during its second season. His vocal style has been compared to the velvety sound of Luther Vandross.

"I Wanted to Be an Opera Singer"
Studdard, the son of two teachers, was born in Frankfurt, Germany, while his father was stationed there with the U.S. Army. However, he grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and sang from an early age. At the age of three he sang for the congregation of the Rising Star Baptist Church in Birmingham. As he grew older he continued to sing in church, and performed solos for the choir in which his mother sang. Studdard told Michael A. Lipton in People, "Growing up, I wanted to be an opera singer."

He attended Huffman High School, where he played football and won a football scholarship to Alabama A&M University. While at college he majored in voice studies, and graduated in 2000. Studdard sang with the local group Just a Few Cats, a Birmingham jazz and R&B band, and a backup singer for the band invited him to come with her to the auditions for American Idol 's second season in 2003.

For his audition Studdard sang a Stevie Wonder song, "Ribbon in the Sky." He became a local finalist and was invited to compete on the show. On the show he sang "Superstar," and was widely praised, earning the nickname "The Velvet Teddy Bear," given him by fans for his smooth voice and rotund physique. He won the title, beating runner-up Clay Aiken by 134,000 votes. He and Aiken became friends while performing on the show, despite the competition between them, and have remained friends to this day.

In June of 2003 Studdard released a single, "Flying Without Wings." It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album, Soulful, sold over one million advance copies before it even hit the stores, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. In 2004 Studdard received the NAACP Outstanding New Artist Award.

Also in 2004, Studdard released his second album, I Need an Angel, a collection of gospel songs. It hit the gospel charts at the number one spot, sold over 96,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number 20 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Studdard's success was tempered by personal and financial disappointment. In March of 2005 he filed suit against his business advisor and godfather, Ronald Edwards, alleging that Edwards had used Studdard's credit cards to run up a $156,000 bill and had taken $90,000 from Studdard's checking account. Although Studdard had sold over 2.2 million records, he alleged that Edwards had damaged his credit to such an extent that he could not purchase a home. Edwards filed a countersuit, but Studdard won the case and in June of 2006 was awarded $500,000 for personal losses and $1.5 million in punitive damages. Studdard told Scotty Ballard in Jet that the theft and the ensuing lawsuit were difficult "because he was a very close family friend. I've known him my whole life." However, he noted that he was glad he had found out about the theft early in his career so he could learn from it, recover, and move on.

"I'm Done with Meat for Now"
Studdard, who has always been large and who had gained over 100 pounds since American Idol, had reached a peak weight of 455 pounds. In 2006 he embarked on a program of vegetarian eating and exercise in order to lose weight and improve his health. His brother, who was also heavy, had experienced some health problems, and his family had a history of high blood pressure, heart problems, and diabetes. The two brothers decided to lose weight together, and Studdard lost over 70 pounds. He told Ballard, "I'm done with meat for now. I plan on sticking with it for as long as I can." Instead of meat, he began eating stir-fried vegetables, tofu, and soy milk. In an interview in People he jokingly told Michelle Tan, "The people at the vegetarian store in Birmingham are like, ‘What's he doing in here?.’" He told Tan that his ultimate goal was to reach a weight of about 250 and build more muscle.

Studdard released The Return in 2006. It had more of an R&B sound than his previous album, and although it opened at number eight on the Billboard 200, its sales did not hold up after that. Studdard told Ballard that the album reflected "the growth I've been through as a person—and as a singer. I've had a lot of personal tests during this past year and I've learned some great life lessons."

Studdard has appeared as a guest on several television shows, including 8 Simple Rules, Life on a Stick, All of Us, and Eve. He also made a cameo appearance in the film Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed and appeared in a television commercial for Sierra Kids.

In 2007 Studdard became a spokesperson for Scale Back America, an eight-week weight loss campaign, and asked 25 percent of Alabama residents who were obese to lose ten pounds in eight weeks-a total of ten million pounds. The event was sponsored by Alabama hospitals, the Alabama Department of Public Health, and Barber Diaries. Studdard has also started his own foundation, the Studdard Foundation for the Advancement of Children in Music Arts, which provides scholarships, after-school programs, and summer camps for music students. His mother, Emily, told Ballard, "It's something that he had dreamed to do to help keep other kids out of trouble." He has also worked with Magic Moments, an organization that fulfills the wishes of children with serious medical conditions. According to Ballard, Studdard said, "Anytime I'm able to bring some joy into a young person's life, I'm glad to do it."

Selected discography
Flying Without Wings (single), 2003.
Soulful, J Records, 2003.
I Need an Angel, J Records, 2004.
The Return, J Records, 2006.

Sources
Periodicals
Jet, July 3, 2006, p. 59; October 23, 2006, p. 54; January 8, 2007, p. 38.
People, December 22, 2003, p. 63; October 23, 2006, p. 87.

Online
Ruben Studdard Foundation Web Site, http://www.rubenstuddardfoundation.org/ (February 19, 2007).
"Ruben Studdard," Internet Movie Data Base, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm/1335861/ (February 19, 2007).
Ruben Studdard Official Website, http://www.rubenstuddard.com/ (February 19, 2007).

• Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

Partway through the second American Idol competition in early 2003, guest judge Gladys Knight christened corpulent crooner Ruben Studdard a "velvet teddy bear," a nod to his smooth, Luther Vandross-styled voice and his Barry White-sized girth. The nickname stuck, since it captured the persona of the 25-year-old native of Birmingham, Alabama, who had unexpectedly become the front-runner in the televised talent show. Surrounded by skinny kids emulating Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, the two singers who had dominated the previous American Idol season in 2002, Studdard stood out with his massive frame, winning smile, mellow voice, and trademark jerseys bearing the number 205, the area code of his hometown.

That hometown looms large in Ruben's background. The son of two teachers, Studdard was born in Birmingham on July 14, 1978. He sang at his parents' Baptist church as a child, but it wasn't until college that he seriously pursued music. Abandoning a promising career in football that would lead to an athletic scholarship at Alabama A&M University, he decided to switch his major and study voice at the school, eventually graduating with a degree in 2000. He then launched his professional career as a singer for Just a Few Cats, a Birmingham-based jazz and soul band. During 2002, Ruben joined one of the group's backup singers at an audition for the second American Idol, making the first round of cuts at his local audition, then winning himself a slot on the national television program.

Studdard made a big impression from the start. Where most of his competitors were pop star wannabes hungry to win the competition, Ruben was quiet and exceedingly laid-back, impressing audiences and judges alike with his large voice and easy confidence. He soon climbed to the top of the pack and stayed there throughout the show, only once being voted into an elimination round. By that point, American Idol 2003 had turned into a horse race between Studdard and Clay Aiken, a skinny, geeky kid from the South whose appearance and taste were perhaps the polar opposite of Ruben's. Like many horse races, this one ended in a photo finish, with Ruben beating Clay by a few thousand votes in May 2003.

Within a month of the show's completion, Ruben's first single, "Flying Without Wings," was released concurrently with Clay's "This Is the Night," a clever release scheme designed to keep the competition alive. Aiken beat Studdard to the top of the charts, and shortly afterward, it was announced that the proposed joint release of their debut albums would be delayed, with each album released separately instead. As Aiken rode a wave of popularity that eclipsed Studdard's, Ruben worked frenetically -- recording his debut, touring with his American Idol cohorts, filming a cameo for Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and suing 205 Flava Inc., the company that made the jerseys he famously wore on American Idol, claiming that the clothes makers illegally profited from his image. 205 Flava Inc. countered that they paid the singer $1,000 to wear the jerseys on the show during the competition, and presented checks written to Ruben's brother and manager on MTV News to support their claim.

As Ruben worked, his album's release date kept getting pushed back; originally slated for an August release, the album was first rescheduled for October, and then postponed to November. Studdard's recording sessions boasted a variety of producers and collaborators, including Fat Joe, Missy Elliott, and R. Kelly, whose names were leaked to the press during the studio process in an effort to shore up Ruben's hip-hop and R&B credentials. When the finished product, Soulful, was finally released on December 9, 2003, it didn't boast either the highly touted Missy or Kelly tracks (though Fat Joe made the cut), but it did display a distinct hip-hop-flavored R&B bent, which stood in contrast to the pop-oriented efforts by such American Idol contestants as Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, and Justin Guarini. Sporting two Top Ten hits, the album quickly went platinum.

The gospel album I Need an Angel followed one year later, featuring collaborations with contemporary gospel icons such as Bill Gaither and Walter Hawkins. Although the album sales failed to approach those of Studdard's debut, I Need an Angel did fare well on the gospel charts. Even so, Studdard returned to his urban roots in 2006 with an aptly named third album, The Return, which featured such contributors as Scott Storch and Ne-Yo. Lead-off single "Change Me" topped the urban contemporary charts that same year, but The Return proved to be the slowest selling album of the singer's career, prompting J Records to cancel his contract in 2007.

In 2008, Ruben Studdard took a well-received foray into theater by portraying Fats Waller in a revival tour of Ain't Misbehavin'. Following the show's completion in May 2009, he returned to his studio career with another album, Love IS, whose subject matter honored the singer's recent marriage to Surata Zuri McCants. The two divorced in late 2011. In 2012, Studdard released Letters from Birmingham, his first album for the Shanachie label. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

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