Masked singer contestant, American Idol winner Ruben Studdard talks life after sudden fame

Proudly representing his hometown then and now, this baseball field is the oldest baseball field in the United States of America. It's still standing. We caught up with American Idol Season 2 winner Ruben Studdard in Birmingham, where he's gotten married and started a family. It's good to travel and it's good to understand different cultures and different places of living, but there is no place, as Dorothy says, like home. While his journey after the show has taken him to world tours, platinum selling album, Broadway and back, Studdard still remembers those idol days fondly. You can understand a a child at three years old having an understanding of seeing or hearing people on the radio and saying that that's what he wants to do. That was me. And it took 21 years after like that realization for it to come to life, so to speak. I thank the people at America Idol for giving me the opportunity to do something that you know other record companies passed on. A lot has changed since he won the show. Recent winners haven't enjoyed the success or staying power of those first big names and we lost the step since that first ten years at first generation. Well, I think that everybody has taken a a page from their playbook. I mean you have the voice, you have you know all these other shows that are competing with American Idol and that's fine too. Anywhere I I tell people that any place where young people can get an opportunity to express their talent and be noticed for it, I'm all for it. For Studdard, Idol wasn't just about boosting his singing career. He also forged meaningful relationships including one with an on stage rival turned real life friend Clay Aiken. I watched this interview with Clay and he said Ruben has been a faithful friend for 20 years. What does faithful friendship look like? Faithful friendship look like just showing up for each other, like a recent tour together or a stint on this season of the hit show The Masked Singer. Clay and I definitely have our share of disagreements, you know, and have had them over the past 20 years. But I think that, you know, whenever there's a need for something, you know, as a friend, you show up. Now Studdard is working on a new challenge, new music. His latest album, The Way I Remember It, pays homage to his earlier music, the hit single masterpiece, A tribute to his wife. Just like the longevity of his older hits, Rubin says some things never change, like trips to his childhood church where he grew up singing in the ninth grade. This the blood, sweat and tears. This is what you know. This is what a this is what a spaghetti denals with the fish fries. The fish fries. This was his first big stage where the support was abundant. Every opportunity there was for me to sing, perform, do anything where I was in front of the mic. I did it here 1st and no trip through the old neighborhood is complete without saying hello to a few fans. Thank you, thank you. Is that normally when you come here? Listen, the people in this community I am connected to, the way that I'm not connected with anywhere else. That means pouring into that community through his foundation, supporting the next generation of Alabama's musicians and artists, showing them the many paths to success. There are numerous things that people can do in entertainment and in music that don't involve being at the microphone. So I try to introduce our young people to those jobs and bring people here that can give them real life, a real life understanding of what they do in the music and entertainment industry. Amber Strong, Scripps News, Birmingham.