David Cook Biography
Summary
"David Roland Cook" (born December 20, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter. On May 21, 2008, he won the seventh season of the reality television show "American Idol". Prior to "Idol" he released an album entitled "Analog Heart", and his post-"Idol" self-titled album, produced by Rob Cavallo, was released on November 18, 2008.
Early life
Cook was born in Houston, Texas, raised in Blue Springs, Missouri, and currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His parents are Beth (née Frye) and Stan Cook. He is the middle of three brothers. Adam is the oldest, and Andrew is the youngest. David's eldest brother, Adam, has been battling brain cancer for a decade.
Cook's interest in music began early in life. He began singing in second grade, when his elementary school music teacher gave him a solo in a school choir performance. He proceeded to perform in virtually every Christmas and PTA program. He received his first guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, at the age of 12. He also participated in choir and drama programs in middle school and high school. At Blue Springs South High School, he performed in musicals, including "The Music Man", "West Side Story", and "Singin' in the Rain". In addition to this, he was an active member in the Blue Springs South High School National Forensics League (or NFL), where he qualified for the national tournament twice for duo interpretation, an event that relies on performance and interpretation of a literary work.
He was also an avid baseball player during high school. After losing interest in sports, he focused more on music. He earned a theater scholarship to the University of Central Missouri, but he abandoned theater after two semesters, graduating from the school in 2006 with a degree in graphic design. While in college, he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa. After his college graduation, he relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to pursue a career in music, telling his family, 'I just want to give myself until I'm 26 years old to get a job.'
Musical background
Cook was the lead singer and guitarist of the band Axium from 1999 until 2006. He formed Axium in his junior year of high school with drummer Bobby Kerr. One of the band's songs, 'Hold', was picked up by AMC Theatres Movie Tunes and was played before previews on over 20,000 screens nationwide. Axium was also named one of the top 15 independent bands in the country in the 'Got Milk?' independent band contest, and it was chosen as the best band in Kansas City in 2004.
In 2006, after the breakup of Axium, Cook relocated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and joined the regional touring band Midwest Kings (MWK), playing guitar, bass, and singing backup vocals. He recorded one EP, "Incoherent with Desire to Move On", with the band in 2006.
Cook released a solo independent album, "Analog Heart", in 2006, for which he also designed the artwork. The album was chosen as the fourth-best CD released in 2006 by website Music Equals Life. Cook also won the "Urban Tulsa Weekly"s 'Absolute Best of Tulsa' award for 'Best Locally Produced, Independent Album' in 2007. He had completed recording his sophomore album before his appearance on "American Idol". Over the weekend of April 18 to April 20, 2008, "Analog Heart" was listed as the number one album for 'Today's Top MP3 Albums' on Amazon.com. Soon there after, the album was removed from Amazon.
His musical influences include Our Lady Peace, Alice in Chains, Big Wreck, Pearl Jam, Chris Cornell, Switchfoot, Bon Jovi and Collective Soul. Immediately after winning American Idol, Cook was asked backstage by Entertainment Weekly who his top five favorite bands were. Our Lady Peace and Big Wreck were on this short list, as well as the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and 8stops7.
"American Idol"
Overview
Cook auditioned for American Idol in Nebraska, performing Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer.' He originally did not plan to try out for the show. Cook came to the auditions initially to support his younger brother Andrew (who did not make it to Hollywood) and then, at his brother's urging, David tried out himself. For his first Hollywood audition, Cook performed '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You' by Bryan Adams, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On the second song in Hollywood, he
sang 'I'll Be' by Edwin McCain. Cook took advantage of the decision to allow contestants to play musical instruments. Besides his Hollywood audition, he also accompanied himself on electric guitar for his performances of 'All Right Now,' 'Hello,' 'Day Tripper,' 'I'm Alive,' 'Baba O'Riley,' 'Dare You to Move,' and 'Dream Big,' and on acoustic guitar for 'Little Sparrow,' 'All I Really Need Is You,' and 'The World I Know.' His white, left-handed Gibson Les Paul electric guitar has the letters 'AC' on it; as Cook told "TV Guide", 'I have two brothers, Adam and Andrew. So, because of superstition, I put their initials on everything growing up.' Since the Top 12 week, he also wore (and continues to wear) an orange wristband to support a 7-year-old fan, Lindsey Rose, with leukemia.
Cook's performance of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' was highly praised by all three judges, especially Simon Cowell. Cowell later said in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly" that the performance 'was in a different league to anything we've heard on the season so far,' and although he knew where the arrangement came from (Chris Cornell's remake of the Michael Jackson original), 'that doesn't really matter.' The performance has received well over 5 million views on YouTube. Another of Cook's performances, The Beatles' 'Day Tripper', was credited to Whitesnake. Seattle-based band Doxology has claimed that Cook's performance of The Beatles' 'Eleanor Rigby' was based on a version the band recorded over a year ago. On April 1, before performing his self-arranged rendition of Dolly Parton's 'Little Sparrow' on "American Idol", Cook responded to Ryan Seacrest in the interview session, revealing that his performance of 'Eleanor Rigby' was based on Neil Zaza's and Doxology's versions. He also reiterated the credits of Whitesnake and Chris Cornell. Despite the controversy, critics praised Cook for choosing versions of songs that fit his vocal style. Cook's arrangements of 'Hello,' 'Little Sparrow,' 'Always Be My Baby,' 'All I Really Need Is You,' 'Baba O'Riley,' 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' and 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' were original arrangements, and his rendition of Mariah Carey's 'Always Be My Baby' was also highly praised, receiving a standing ovation from Randy Jackson.
Cook won the seventh season of "American Idol" on May 21, 2008, receiving 56% of the votes, with 12 million votes over David Archuleta as the runner-up. Cook then sang 'The Time of My Life', the winning song of the 2008 "American Idol" Songwriter's Competition.
During the finale, Cook appeared in a commercial for the game franchise "Guitar Hero", mimicking Tom Cruise in "Risky Business". Fellow finalist David Archuleta appeared in a separate commercial parodying the same scene. Both commercials were directed by Brett Ratner.
Post-"Idol" career
For the "Billboard" chart week ending May 25, 2008, a week following Cook's "American Idol" victory, Cook broke several "Billboard" chart records. Most notable was his record shattering feat of having eleven songs debut on the Hot 100 that week, beating the previous record set by Miley Cyrus ("Hannah Montana") in 2006 when she had six songs debut on the chart. Cook's first single, 'The Time of My Life' led the pack, debuting at #3 on the Hot 100. Cook's eleven charting songs also gave him the most songs by one artist on the Hot 100 of any week in the Nielsen SoundScan era (which began in 1991), and the most of any era since The Beatles placed 14 songs on the chart the week of April 11, 1964. In addition, that same week Cook also broke the record for the most debuts on "Billboard"s Hot Digital Songs chart, where he placed 14 debut entries, the record of which was previously six set by Bon Jovi in 2007. Cook's 17 entries had a combined total of 944,000 digital downloads in the first week of selling. The song also reached #61 in the UK due to downloads alone.
Cook worked with Espionage, Ed Roland (Collective Soul), Zac Maloy (The Nixons), Jason Wade (Lifehouse), Neal Tiemann (MWK) , Kevin Griffin (Better Than Ezra), Chantal Kreviazuk, and Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) on his debut album. The album was produced by Rob Cavallo. On Ryan Seacrest's morning show "On Air" of KIIS-FM on September 5, 2008, the singer revealed that the CD release date would be November 18, 2008. Cook has also announced via a blog on his myspace page that Neal Tiemann, his former bandmate from Midwest Kings (MWK) has joined his band as lead guitar player.
Cook has also signed an endorsement deal with Skechers that will run through December 2009.
At the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, Cook won the Best Reality/Variety Star award, alongside Lauren Conrad of "The Hills".
The first single released from the album, 'Light On' was announced on Cook's official site and debuted on September 23, 2008. 'Light On', as of the week of October 10, 2008, debuted at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
An exclusive first look at David Cook's debut album was released on his official mailing list. The mailing list includes the album cover and songs including 'Declaration', 'Heroes' and 'Come Back to Me'. 'The Time of My Life' is also included on the album as a bonus track.
Cook appeared as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" on November 1, where he performed 'Light On' and debuted the track 'Declaration'.
Cook appeared at the 2008 Glamour Magazine Women of the Year Awards as a guest of Mary Steenburgen to surprise honoree Hillary Clinton, a fan of "American Idol". He sang one of Clinton's favorite songs, 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', which he sang during the Top 3 week on Idol.
Cook performed on the American Music Red Carpet Live November 23, 2008, performing Light On and Declaration.
In June, Cook performed the Star-Spangled Banner at Game 3 of the 2008 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. Cook also performed with his brother Andrew during the opening weekend of the 2008 NFL season at a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders.
Personal Life
In May 2008, Cook asked out "American Idol" contestant Kimberly Caldwell while on the red carpet before the show's seventh season finale. During a radio interview with XL 106.7 on October 13, 2008, Cook confirmed that he and Caldwell are 'still seeing each other.' In a November 2008 interview with PEOPLE magazine, Cook said his relationship with Caldwell is a 'nice break from the chaos' of post-"Idol" fame.
Discography
Studio Albums
"Solo"
2006: "Analog Heart"
2008: "David Cook"
"Axium"
2002:" Matter of Time"
2003: "Blindsided"
2004: "The Story Thus Far"
"Midwest Kings"
2006: "Incoherent With Desire To Move On"
"Live Albums"
"Axium"
2004: "Alive in Tulsa"
"Uncharted Singles"
2001: 'Dear Heaven'
2007: 'Better Never Than Late' (aka 'Optimistic to a Fault')
Tours
American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008
External links
(David Cook) at MySpace
(David Cook) at "American Idol" official website
(David Cook) at Internet Movie Database
(David Cook) at YouTube
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about David Cook.
