Finding time to laugh with friends or to play a round of golf isn’t easy for David Cook these days. But he manages to make time.
David, 26, was the winner of American Idol’s Season Seven, and released a multi-platinum album in November 2008. During his current Declaration Tour, he played in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, where he spent a few moments answering questions for Ada Hub.
“It’s been a wild ride, that’s for sure,” said the Missouri native who was living in Tulsa in 2007 when he began his American Idol quest.
“If you had asked me two years ago if I ever thought it would end up like this, I’d have told you not in a million years. It’s fun — a lot of fun — but it still doesn’t seem real sometimes. I get up every morning thankful for the opportunities that have been handed to me, and I don’t want to ever take any of it for granted.”
On the morning of his Ada Hub interview, David had played a round of golf at a Tulsa area course and was “taking it easy” in the early afternoon a few hours before his show at the legendary Cain’s Ballroom. David said Tulsa, of all the cities he has played in, holds a special place in his heart.
“Tulsa is where I came to make it in the music business,” he said. “Tulsa is where I found myself musically, and where this whole ride really started. And to play at Cain’s is really something special to me, because I remember just a few years ago I used to come here to hear other people sing, and now there are people standing outside in the 100-degree heat waiting to see me.
“That’s still something that’s really hard for me to grasp,” he said. “People standing in line to see me sing is something I’d have never thought I’d see.”
Professionally, life has been a whirlwind for David since his American Idol victory. Within days, he had a dozen songs listed on the Billboard charts, the most at one time by one artist since the Beatles in 1964. With his songs like “Light On,” “Come Back to Me,” and “Time of My Life,” David’s musical future holds tremendous promise.
As thrilling as the professional ride has been, the past year has also held heartache for David, who lost his oldest brother, Adam, to brain cancer this spring. The loss was devastating for David, who cancelled a number of shows to spend time with his family as they mourned the loss together.
“It’s been a year of growth,” David said, working to keep his emotions in check. “Watching what happened to my brother was awful, but he was an amazing person. He never let it get to him, even in the end, and I learned so much from him.
“But it was the kind of year I don’t think anyone can imagine,” David said. “To have things musically going so great, and at the same time to have my brother dying in front of my eyes … It was a year I will never forget, for the good and the bad.”
After spending the summer of 2008 on the American Idol Tour, David released his solo album in November. Sang for U.S. troops at several USO stops and then kicked into high gear for his Declaration Tour which has taken him to small, intimate venues all across the country. It’s been a hectic schedule, but David said he works hard to keep his life as “normal” as possible.
As much as David enjoys performing live and recording albums, he has a true passion for music videos and hopes to get into acting in the near future.
“I love the music video part of the industry,” he said. “On the ‘Come Back to Me’ video, it was my idea to sing the song backwards all the way through and then reverse it. It sounded like a great idea to me when we started, and then I found out how much work it was going to be,” he laughed.
“And I love acting, I always have. I’ve thrown my hat into the ring and we’re kind of looking around right now to see if we can find the perfect opportunity for me to move into that arena,” he said.
Although he has definitely become a “big name” celebrity, David said he works hard to not let the attention change his dreams or affect how he sees the world around him.
“There are a lot of appearances you have to make, because it’s just part of the job,” he said. “But I’m not the kind of person who got into this just so I could be on the A-List for all the big parties and things. I don’t ever want my life to get to that point.”
“That’s why I do things like I did today, going out to play golf and blow off some steam, and then tonight after the show I’m going out with some old friends from Tulsa to just laugh and have a good time,” David said.
“I’m still the same David Cook I was before American Idol, and I want to always be that same David Cook. That is something I don’t ever want to change.”