Artist of the Week - David Cook

This weeks artists of the week comes from a few years ago. when I first saw him preforming on seventh session American Idol in the 2008 which he went on to win. That artist is David Cook who performed an amazing version of "Billie Jean" based on Chris Cornell performance and arrangement of the song from 2007. It was simply amazing at the time, and to my mind still is. I'm sure it won him the show in the end and without it that performance he would have returned to his roots. It was miles above everything else the night it was performed.

I do worry that American Idol might end up being his downfall if he stay's with the people that produced the his first album after the show. He has far more to offer than being turned into a one album wonder. Thankfully he seems to be taking his time on the second album that should be released sometime this year all being good. However, saying that his first album wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as the solo album he recorded before he went on the show. That album showed an artist with more depth and talent that seems to have got watered down by the commercial music industry.

So who is David Cook, well he was born in Houston, Texas, raised in Blue Springs, Missouri, and currently lives in Kansas City and Los Angeles. His interest in music and sing started at a young age and he performed in nearly every school show,  from elementary school to high school. After a brief spell with sports he moved on to study theatre studies at University before dropping the subject in favour of graphic design which he eventually got a degree in. All through this period music was in his heart and after leaving University he went onto concentrate on playing music and recording with his band Axium which he had formed while at high school. All together he recored four albums with the band before he released his first solo album. It was only by chance he went on American Idol at all, he went to the auditions to support his younger brother, but his mother and brother persuaded him to try out and he made it onto the lives shows and won the whole thing.

I hope you enjoy listening to David Cook as much as I did the first time I heard him sing on American idol. Do check out his early music, especially his solo album which really shows he had it in him with or without the show, and while your at why not have a listen to Axium too. You should find all the early music on YouTube if you search around a bit.