David Cook

A free article on Arts and Entertainment

By: Jayson Cabuyao

David Roland Cook (born December 20, 1982) is an American rock singer-songwriter.[1] On May 21, 2008, he won the seventh season of the reality television show American Idol. Prior to Idol he worked as a bartender at the "Blank Slate" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and released an album entitled Analog Heart.

Cook was born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Blue Springs, Missouri. His parents are Beth (née Frye) and Stan Cook.[5] He is the middle of three brothers.[6][7]

Cook's interest in music began early in life; he received his first guitar at the age of 12. 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.[8] 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.[9][10][8]

He had also been 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.[11][12] While in college, he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa.[13] 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."[14]
American Idol

Overview
Cook auditioned for American Idol in Omaha, Nebraska, performing Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer." He originally did not plan to try out for the show as he was going on a trip to China; he came to the auditions initially to support his younger brother Andrew (who did not make it to Hollywood) and then decided to try out himself.[14][26] For his first Hollywood audition, Cook performed "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Later in the week he performed "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."[27] Since the Top 12 week, he has also been wearing an orange wristband to support a 7-year-old fan, Lindsey Rose, with leukemia.[28][29]
"Billie Jean," one of his performances, 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 4.5 million views on YouTube.[30] Another of Cook's performances, "Day Tripper", was credited to Whitesnake. Seattle-based band Doxology has claimed that Cook's performance of "Eleanor Rigby" was based on a version the band recorded over a year ago.[31] On April 1, before performing his self-arranged rendition of "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.[32][33][34] His 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.
Cook won the seventh season of American Idol on May 21, 2008, receiving 56% of the votes with 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.

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