UP AND COMING: David Cook

David Cook is an up and coming artist on the Alternative rock scene. Born in Houston, Texas in 1982, this 25 year old is currently rocking out in the seventh season of American Idol.
No stranger to the world of alternative rock, David Cook has been a part of two bands, Axiom and The Midwest Kings. He has also released an Independent album called Analog Heart, which surprisingly made its way to Number 1 on the Amazon.com charts, when David himself is still battling it out to win American Idol. Through Idol as well, he has managed to bring out several iTunes topping covers. His covers of "Billie Jean" and Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" broke through to iTunes top 10, and eventually made it to No. 1.
THE EARLY YEARS: AXIUM
Inspired by love, loss, and everything in between, Cook and his band mates--guitarist Jeff Shrout and drummer Bobby Kerr -- have built a formidable fan base through two years of high-octane performances, during which time they have shared concert bills with artists ranging from Caroline s Spine and Maroon 5 to Smashmouth and Fountains of Wayne.Capturing the energy of Axium's live shows, the group's newest album Blindsided balances delicacy and aggression in equal measure. Stirred by honest antagonism <> and emotional sub currents <>the songs on Blindsided seek a deeper resonance to obvious realities.Of special note is "Truth Is A Gun," based on the ideal that honesty can, and sometimes does, force you to leave your comfort zone.

"My mindset in writing Truth was to convey my regret for whatever dishonesty I had committed in life and how it had hurt those around me", Cook says of Blindsided s first single.
Having an alternative slant to their rock, [Axium's] music is not only fresh and distinctive, but with the strong vocals and BIG sound it is reminiscent of the power rock of the 80's: A little dark, but not depressing a little edgy, but not scary. It's strong, feel-good, soul strengthening music.
courtesy: http://www.david-cook.org/

THE EARLY YEARS: ANALOG HEART


David Cook's Analog Heart is his independent album, released in 2006. It didn't recieve much success until David made it to American Idol. By April 2008, it reached No. 1 on Amazon.com. However due to American Idol rules, the album had to be pulled off, though free download links are still scattered all over the internet.
The song list for the album is as follows:

Straight Ahead
Don’t Say A Word
Fall Back Into Me
The Truth
Searchlights
Porcelain
Stitches
Let Go
Makeover
Silver

CUT TO THE PRESENT: AMERICAN IDOL:
David was not the odds on favourite to win the show. His first two performances, "Happy Together" by the Turtles and "All Right Now" by Free weren't too well recieved by the judges, especially Simon, who said he had "a lack of charisma".

However, Cook turned the tides completely with a haunting emo arrangement of Lionel Richie's 'Hello', which catapulted him to front runner status. Lionel Richie is rumouredly planning to release David Cook's version of Hello as a single.

Top 12 saw even more success with David Cook. He did covers of Eleneor Rigby and Day Tripper for the two Beatles weeks, and also covered songs like Billie Jean, Day Tripper, Little Sparrow(by Dolly Parton), Always be my Baby(Mariah Carey) and most recently Music of the Night, a song from the famous Broadway hit Phantom of the Opera. Many of them have had massive iTunes success.

SOME EXTRA TIDBITS:

• David Cook's brother Adam Cook is currently suffering from Brain Cancer.
• Cook also wears an orange wristband every week, which is a symbol of his support for an 8 year old fan of his who has laeukamia.
• David Cook, when asked about what America would be surprised to know about him, said that he was a "Word Nerd". He loves solving crosswords.