The winner of the seventh season of Fox's American Idol competition, David Cook is rock-oriented vocalist with a bent toward a commercial post-grunge sound. Born in Houston, TX in 1982, Cook grew up in Blue Springs, MO and first began singing in various elementary school concerts. During high school, Cook participated in the drama program and appeared in many musical productions. In his junior year of high school, Cook formed the band Axium along with a classmate and performed with the band throughout his time at college, even releasing two independently produced albums that garnered some national recognition. Although he attended the University of Central Missouri on a theater scholarship, after two years he switched degree programs to graphic design. After graduating college in 2006, Cook parted ways Axium and moved to Tulsa, OK to pursue his musical interests. While there, he worked as a bartender and performed with the band the Midwest Kings.
In 2006, Cook released an independently produced solo album, Analog Heart, and had completed a follow-up before auditioning for the 2008 season of the Fox vocal competition American Idol. Not surprisingly, Analog Heart began to sell online during Cook's time on American Idol and was pulled off Amazon.com not long after being listed as the site's number one seller. Initially, Cook came to the Idol auditions to support his younger brother Andrew, who did not make the cut. However, after getting encouragement from his brother, Cook sang Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" for the judges and was accepted into the Hollywood round of competition. A guitar player since age 12, Cook took advantage of the show's new rule change allowing vocalists to play instruments, and for many of his subsequent performances accompanied himself on guitar. Although he did not receive much attention on American Idol at first, his third week's performance of Lionel Ritchie's "Hello" drew raves from the judges, who praised him for taking an R&B song and turning it into a post-grunge power ballad. It was a formula that Cook would repeat with much success a few weeks later with a rock arrangement of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" borrowed directly from a recording by former Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell. Also bringing some extra attention to Cook was the revelation that his older brother was battling cancer. Sensationally, during the competition Cook was taken to the hospital for treatment for high blood pressure and heart palpitations, purportedly caused by stress over his brother's situation. However, he quickly returned to the show and dismissed the event as a minor precaution. Often referred two as the "Battle of the Davids," the 2008 finale of American Idol pitted Cook against 17-year-old wunderkind David Archuleta, who many critics and fans predicted would beat the elder Cook. However, on May 21, 2008 Cook ultimately received 56-percent of the vote to win. His version of the winning Idol single "Time of My Life'" was released on iTunes the following day. His full-length major-label debut is expected to drop in late 2008. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide
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