- [Narrator] Funding for this program was provided by- - [Announcer] Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, dedicated to helping you celebrate your life or the life of a loved one for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- [Narrator] This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

- [Alison] This week on "The A-list," a big break on "American Idol" opened up unimaginable opportunities for this singing sensation.

- Just nothing could ever prepare you for walking in the room with Jimmy Jam, or walking in the room to the studio with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Janet Jackson is sitting right there.

There is nothing that can prepare you for seeing somebody that has been a poster on your wall since you were 10 is now sitting next to you on a couch in a studio.

So yeah, that took some getting used to, you know.

- Join me as I sit down with Ruben Studdard.

Coming up next on "The A-list."

(upbeat music) (chill music) In 2003, Birmingham native, Ruben Studdard, captured the hearts of millions of viewers around the world When he won the second season of "American Idol."

He even earned a nickname from the one and only Gladys Knight, the Velvet Teddy Bear.

In the 20 years that have passed since that first shot at fame, Ruben has created numerous studio albums and performed for fans around the world.

And now he's working with students right here in our own community, teaching a masterclass at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Ruben, welcome to the A-List.

- Thank you for having me.

- Well, and thank you for having us at UTC, where I know you are teaching a master class to performing art students.

How is that going?

- It's excellent.

I'm excited to have an opportunity to share the things that I've learned over the years in the music industry to young people that grew up just like me.

Like I wished when I was in college that there was somebody that had real world, real active knowledge of the music industry there to give me instructions or some guidance.

So I'm so thankful that I was given the opportunity to do this.

- Now, I figured out the math last night and told my husband, you know, the students that Ruben is teaching weren't born when Ruben won "American Idol."

- Which always makes me feel kind of old, right?

Because whenever I do shows there's always somebody that is there that, you know, was five or six when I was on the show.

But it's very different to have kids that have no point of reference.

They just know, like, this guy is coming to teach us and they say that he did something spectacular.

So I'm just glad that they're paying attention (both laughing) - Naturally paying attention.

- Naturally paying attention.

That means I'm doing a good job because otherwise, you know, I used to be able to lean on my celebrity a bit when I did masterclasses.

With this one, these kids have absolutely no idea who I was or am.

So it's great.

(both laughing) - Well, and for me it is totally different because I have been watching you, cheering for you, voting for you for now, I guess it's been 20 years since you won "American Idol" and since you were always repping the 205, which we have a shared childhood in Birmingham which we established, you know, my mother would say, "Did you see our Ruben on TV?"

Right?

So everybody, you know I know you embraced your city as much as your city really embraced you.

And I think that has just...

I can't believe it's been 20 years but I have felt that connection to you even though this is the first time we've met.

- It was very special.

Like I never really expected to be the thing that would bring our city together.

Like we have so many shared hardships in Birmingham, Alabama, and I think for that moment in history we were like all joined together with one cause and that cause was for us to beat Clay Aiken, and we did that.

(Alison laughing) And so I tell him all the time, when you come to Alabama don't look for any like, special treatment.

Like, you know, there are always gonna be people that are rooting against you so- - That rivalry, we take rivalries very seriously.

- Very seriously.

It is never going away, son.

He was like, "Man, it's 20 years."

I said, "It doesn't matter."

Like people still are putting the No Clay signs up.

- So what was it like growing up in Birmingham for you?

- It was absolutely amazing.

You know, I grew up in the Center Point area of Birmingham and both my parents were teachers, and so they were very strict, but very loving and I had a wonderful time.

You know, I talked to Mr. and Mrs. Cleckler, the people that ran the Boys and Girls Club that I went to.

And I just tell them how much I appreciate all the experiences I was able to have because of them, like, you know, going to Camp Jimmy Goodwin and doing talent shows and all those things I got to do after school.

And then, you know, going to Princeton Elementary and Smith Middle School and Huffman High School and all of my teachers there were just excellent.

And, you know, I think Birmingham was the best place in the world to grow up.

There are so many things that I talk to people about around the world that they can't understand about, you know, us sitting in the parking lot of Huffman Baptist Church after a football game and, you know, just being there to hang out is weird to people but it's really not weird to people from Birmingham because that's what we do everywhere.

It's like growing up in the '90s but it actually still feeling like the '50s if that makes any sense.

(both laughing) - Right, that sense of neighborhood and community and everybody knew everybody.

They knew your business whether you wanted them to or not.

(Alison laughing) - Absolutely.

- You started sports and singing sort of at the same time.

- Well, singing really started for me before sports.

I started singing when I was like three years old in church and, you know, which is another thing that we do in Birmingham.

We do church.

(laughs) And so the first place I ever sung was at a church pageant and I think the song was called "I'm Yours, Lord" and I was maybe five years old and I've been singing ever since.

I started playing sports at about six or seven, which is, you know, I actually started playing baseball first.

Baseball was my first love because my grandmother's house was a block away from Rickwood Field so I went to all the baseball games.

I love baseball.

I would, you know, I was an avid Braves fan.

And so for me, like, I thought that I was gonna be the next Frank Thomas.

(Lisa laughing) I really did, but it didn't happen that way.

- So what did your parents encourage you to do?

- Whatever I wanted to do that was constructive.

You know, I was in middle school, I was on the debate team.

I was a champion orator, like I won like city poetry reading competitions and all kinds of things.

I played the tuba in middle school and high school.

And the only reason I didn't play in college, because I didn't know that you couldn't have two concentrations as a music major.

So I had to choose voice, but if I could've been voice and tuba, I would've done that, like, for sure.

But music was always my love.

I did so many things around the city, like I was able to just showcase my talent.

And I feel like it's the reason why I am where I am today.

Had it, you know, not been for like teachers like Dr. Frank Adams, who was the leader of the Birmingham City School's music department and these guys having that real world knowledge that like these people played for Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday, and these are people that are teaching in the Birmingham School system.

So I had a great music education (gentle upbeat music) - That early education set the stage for Ruben to pursue his love of music.

But when it came time to hone his craft in a collegiate setting, it was his athletic talent that opened the door.

So I know you went to Alabama A&M.

- I did.

- How important was that for you to go to a HBCU?

- You know, I have to be honest, Alabama A&M was not my first choice.

I wanted to go to Morehouse College.

I really, really, really have made my mind up that that was the place that I was gonna go because, of course, Martin Luther King went there.

They have one of the best choirs in the world, the Morehouse Glee Club.

So I wanted to go to that school, but it just wasn't in the cards for me because my parents couldn't afford it.

And I had talent in football and choir.

So I had scholarship offers from all of... Like, I had about 10 football scholarship offers and two choir scholarship offers.

And the one choir scholarship offer I had was for Alabama A&M.

But I went there on a football scholarship and after I decided, after my first year playing, I was like, "This is not for me."

The choir director, Mr. Tucker said, "Listen, you can quit all that barbarism and come play come play with us.

Come sing in the choir."

- Go from barbarism to barbershop, right?

- Right.

So, I mean, they just really just transferred money to one, you know, place and I'm so thankful that they were able to do that because it's very hard to find teachers that care as much as Mr. Tucker did for us.

And, you know, he wanted all of us to be great.

And for somebody, you know, that is teaching in Alabama that went to Westminster Choir College, like you know, it's basically unheard of.

Like he really should be at like a big time choir school.

But where he was able to get his job was at Alabama A&M University.

And I'm so thankful we had one of the, I think, only black doctors of music theory at Alabama A&M University.

So the education I received there was second to none even though I didn't want to go because that's where my mom went, that's where my Aunt Pauline went, that's where my cousins went.

The man I was named after, my grandmother's brother, went to Alabama A&M University.

So I had no desire to be there but it was the absolute best place for me.

- Now I know you got your degree from there.

You even have an honorary master's degree from there.

But it took you a little bit because I know you dropped out at some point to pursue music.

- That was the most important thing for me at the time.

I had to see if I could do it.

And I think that's important for all parents to give their children the opportunity to see how far their talent can take them.

Because, you know, at the end of the day, universities will always be here.

You know, but a dream deferred is a dream deferred, period.

And so, you know, my mom, you know, was not happy, but, you know she allowed me to see what was out there for me.

- How'd that work out for you?

- It worked out quite well.

(both laughing) - Well, you were in a few different bands though before you got your shot at "American Idol."

So what was that leading up to your audition?

- You know, the band that me and my friend, Alvin Garrett, started together was called Just a Few Cats.

And we started that band because we saw a need in the wedding industry for, you know, just, you know, people that could really move crowds.

And so we started a band to do weddings and receptions and we got really popular around Birmingham.

So much so that we started being the highest selling band, ticket wise, at the WorkPlay Theater, which we talked about earlier, that Alan Hunter opened.

And so we would perform there maybe two Saturdays a month, and we would sell out, you know, two or three shows a weekend.

And that's when I knew like, "Hey, this is what we should be doing."

And, you know, I remember when the first season of "American Idol" came out, me and all my friends was watching it because we said, "We were serious musicians."

And I said to myself, I would never do a show like that where I'm a serious musician.

(Alison laughing) Somebody's gonna come to Birmingham and discover me because I'm here singing so great.

And I found myself in that line just like Kelly Clarkson a year later, hoping that they picked me because the opportunity to get in front of record executives is rather difficult when you're not from a city where music lives.

(chill music) - From his public school education, to singing in the choir at Alabama A&M, and serenading crowds at weddings, every step forward was preparing Ruben for the career he'd always dreamed of.

But the decision to audition for a television show changed his life forever.

So who convinced you to audition?

I mean, that's gotta be... And I mean, we're we're going back 20 years.

This is the second season.

So this is, for all intents and purposes, brand new to the television scene, to the music scene.

It was, I would say, more reality television back then too, where they were looking for as many talented people as they were, you know, wrecks on TV that were making a good story.

This had to be a hard lane to navigate.

- So there was a background singer for my band Just a Few Cats, and her name was Sharita Duff.

And Sharita was all about going to audition for "American Idol."

And she just kept, every time we would have rehearsals she would say, "We should go audition for the show.

We should go audition for the show."

And I finally agreed to go with her and we both went to Nashville.

And I tell people all the time, like, you know when something is for you, everything will work the way it is supposed to.

So we went to Nashville, had nowhere to stay, had nothing to do but to... 'Cause we didn't know that the audition process was like three or four days.

So you get there and you have to wait a day for your audition.

So if you don't have a place to stay, that means you have to go back to where you're from.

(Ruben laughs) - Oh, wow.

- Luckily one of my best childhood friends had just gotten a job with TVA.

He had his first apartment and he was like, "Listen, I'm here.

You guys can stay here until it's time for you to audition."

He brought us food and we had to sleep outside in the line.

He did everything for us.

I'm always thankful for Bernard Johnson, who's probably the reason why I'm actually here at UTC because he introduced me to the vice chancellor.

I mean, he introduced me to Stacy Lightfoot, who gave me my job here, when he was here at Chattanooga working for UTC.

That's how we all met one another.

- Bernard's been a good contact.

- He has.

We've been friends since we were two years old.

Our mothers went to Princeton Elementary School and high school together and we've been friends but our grandparents actually grew up together in the same neighborhood.

So we've been friends a long time but he's the reason why I'm sitting here right now.

But yeah, so we were there and I was able to stay with him.

- But it was not a foregone conclusion you'd even make it past the initial audition.

- The first day.

No, so we both went.

We had consecutive numbers so she went first, they cut her.

I went in, sung, they kept me.

We drove back to Birmingham.

I had to be back in two days.

So subsequently, like a week before my car had broken down.

So my brother had to drive me back to Nashville for another audition for the the producers.

Made it through that audition, and then my brother had to bring me back a week later for the audition that everybody sees on television.

So you get three auditions before that big one that everybody sees when I made it to Hollywood.

- And so that audition, you're singing "Ribbon in the Sky."

You're in front of those three iconic judges.

You're repping the 205.

(laughs) What was going through your mind, if you can remember, during that moment?

- I was just excited, and I don't know if you could really tell.

Well you couldn't 'cause I'd sung a song before I sung "Ribbon in the Sky," and I think either Simon or Randy said, "Can you sing something else?"

And so "Ribbon in the Sky" is what I sung and they were like, you know, you made it to Hollywood.

But I was really just excited to be there, if you understood.

I mean people have seen the process now.

You know, it was a lot different back then.

It wasn't all the hoopla that goes on at auditions now.

It was just a whole bunch of people being quiet, waiting for their opportunity.

But you know, my mom said, when she went to the second audition with me, she said, "I knew it was different."

Because she had been to so many auditions for things with me before.

She was like, "I knew it was different because of all the cameras that were around."

She said, "This is not the same thing that Chris has been doing forever."

Excuse me, my mom calls me Chris, "Has been doing forever."

Like this is completely different.

(laughs) And so she was really excited at the prospect of me having the opportunity to do that.

- Wait, now we've digressed.

Why does your mom call you Chris?

- Because my name is Ruben Christopher Studdard.

And so everybody in my family, you know how we are, (Alison laughing) everybody calls me my middle name.

- So you make it to Hollywood, right?

I know that the person with you at that audition, that second audition, third audition at this point, was also one of your biggest fans, your brother Kevin.

What was it like having him in your corner all those years?

- My brother not only was a fan, but people can tell you they are your fan, but my brother showed how much he believed in me by putting his money where his mouth was.

My brother was the person that financed several demos that I had prior to being on "American Idol."

He would buy tickets for everybody to come to my concerts.

He just would go above and beyond for me always and I'll never forget that.

My brother, you know, though he picked on me to no end when we were kids about me singing because (laughs) he said it got on his nerves.

But when we got older, he understood how passionate I was about music and he fully supported me in every way that he possibly could.

So I'm forever thankful for my brother and his influence in my life.

- And I know he passed away way too soon, I'm so sorry, in 2018.

What has it been like without him supporting you now?

- I think that he's always with me and I know people say that's kind of cliche, but he really is.

Like I can hear him when I'm making decisions about things that I should do in music because my brother was a DJ, so like he knew what a good record sounded like.

He knew what good material was.

So I could always hear him when I'm trying to pick something to sing.

But the thing that I think about now the most, is the type of uncle that he would be because he was always saying, "I can't wait 'til you have a kid so I could spoil them."

And so now that I have a son, to not have him around, that is the thing for me that is like the hardest pill to swallow because I know he would probably be the one that's probably at even more than me.

'Cause I'll be on the road, probably be at all the football games, all the baseball games, or whatever my son decides he wants to do.

I know that his uncle would've been his biggest cheerleader.

(chill music) - Ruben's support system back home helped guide him through the competition week after week until he was voted by viewers as the winner of the second season of "American Idol."

And though the experience was challenging it all prepared him for the career of his dreams.

And you think about how quick you went from being, you know, this guy who wants to get into the music industry playing at weddings, which is a fabulous profession, right, to now being on a international show.

Then you start working with people like Clive Davis and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and I mean the greats in the music industry.

What was that swift ascension like for you?

At one point did you ever say to yourself, "Oh my God I don't know if I wanna do this," or did you just go along for the ride?

- It was completely overwhelming and I can't even express to you how overwhelming it was to have an opportunity to work with people that you only seen on television.

Not only that, you don't know how to interact with people because people seem untouchable.

Even after having the "American Idol" experience and being exposed to Paula Abdul, who was in our dress room every day and mentoring us and everybody that came to be a mentor, they didn't just come and leave.

They actually stayed around and talked with us and made sure that we understood the things that they were teaching us.

But it just, nothing could ever prepare you for walking in a room with Jimmy Jam or walking in the room to the studio with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson is sitting right there.

There is nothing that can prepare you for seeing somebody that has been a poster on your wall since you were 10 is now sitting next to you on a couch in the studio.

So yeah, that took some getting used to, you know.

- (laughs) So now that, you know, it's hard to go from 20 years ago and now the 20 years since, which has been chock full of making albums, performing live, teaching masterclasses.

What has been the highlight since "American Idol?"

- I can only tell you that I've had too many highlights to put into one paragraph.

I will give you a few.

The night I won "American Idol," having the opportunity to see my 90 year old grandfather on stage for me was just amazing.

Like, I'm sure he never thought in a million years he'd be in Hollywood or California or any of that stuff, and he was there.

Having the opportunity to have one-on-one personal conversations with Aretha Franklin.

Getting the chance to meet my musical idols, Marvin Winans and Fred Hammond, and having the opportunity to sit down at a dinner with Stevie Wonder, like, these are things that I never would've imagined would happen to me.

Like I only thought like, "Oh, you get a record deal.

You know, you get a chance to go out and sing."

But you know, to have a working relationship with somebody like David Foster who's created, you know, basically the "American Songbook," to be able to pick up the phone and talk to Terry Lewis on a daily basis and just ask him questions about how I should handle certain things as a big brother and a mentor has just been...

So, like I say, there are so many things that I could tell you since I've been a part of that show that have been amazing.

And I could really write a book, as I probably should.

Yeah.

- Add it to the list.

You know, one of the recurring themes about you, when you read articles about you, hear people talk about you, is that your life has obviously changed because of "American Idol" but you have not.

That you are still that down-to-earth, sweet, kind, affable person.

How important was that for you, to stay grounded in who you are, even though what you've been able to do has just blown all of your expectations?

- I can only be myself.

You know, and I think that a lot of times when people do become Hollywood, it was already in them.

You know what I mean?

For me, like, this is just who I am.

I'm always gonna be Ruben no matter where I am in the world.

I've been able to experience a lot of great things and, you know, and take family members to places that they probably never expected to go and I never expected to go, but I'm gonna take this person to all those places.

- And what do you hope your son takes away from your experience to make him the best possible version of him himself?

- I hope that he finds something that he loves to do and sticks with it.

That's it.

Like, I don't wanna levy any of my expectations on him.

I hope that he finds something that he loves, works at it, and sticks with it.

That's it.

- Well, Ruben, you will always be my number one "American Idol."

- Thank you.

(laughs) - Thanks for being with us.

- You're so welcome.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Narrator 2] Watch even more of the shows you love anytime with WTCI Passport on the free PBS app.

Download it today.

- [Narrator] Funding for this program was provided by- - [Announcer] Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory and Florist, dedicated to helping you celebrate your life, or the life of a loved one, for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- [Narrator] This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.