I didn’t watch season two, but I know about the epic finale between Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard. The show hadn’t developed the apparatus that generated returnees yet, so the talent pool was comparatively thin – but the top 4 all had chart success.

Ruben Studdard He’s still out touring and releasing new material, though sporadically. He performed on the Idol finale.

Clay Aiken Clay sold tons of records, starred on Broadway, fathered a child, came out, and ran for congress. Anything else?

Kimberley Locke She’s had a lot of success on the adult contemporary charts – 6 number ones – and she is still producing new material. She guest-hosted an episode of The View in 2007, lost 40 pounds on Celebrity Fit Club in 2008, and she has appeared on a number of other shows. She recently signed a deal with clothing retailer Lane Bryant to be the spokesperson for their Seven7 jeans.

Joshua Gracin I don’t have to look to see if he’s still touring; he was just here in Spokane. He’s hit the top of the country charts and had two top-five country albums, and he charted as recently as 2011. In 2014 he was committed to a psychiatric hospital after posting a suicide note on Facebook while going through a troubled divorce. Since recovered, and he recently became engaged. He has 237,000 Facebook followers.

Trenyce Most of her post-Idol success has come on the stage, with ten theater roles including the London production of Thriller – Live from 2010-2013.
Carmen Rasmusen She put an album out, she wrote a book, she appeared on Fear Factor (she finished 2nd in 2006), and she currently writes an entertainment column for The Deseret News. She has been married to Bradley Herbert, the son of Utah Governor Gary Herbert, since 2004. They have two children.

Kimberly Caldwell She got an album out and charted a single, but her primary focus has been on television work. She worked as a host for TV Guide, and worked on several other television projects with mixed results. She dated season seven Idol David Cook for a year. Now married to soccer player Jordan Harvey, the couple recently welcomed a daughter.

Rickey Smith He died in a traffic accident on May 6, 2016. He had been working as a singing bartender and occasionally appearing in Idol reunion shows. He was 36.

Corey Clark – He was arrested in November, 2015 for domestic violence after stalking his estranged wife, in violation of a restraining order filed in 2007.

Julia DeMato – She’s a full time hairstylist now, living in her hometown and retweeting words of inspiration from Fact Fact in between episodes of “Game of Thrones.”

Charles Grigsby – Check out this piece from Fox-8 Cleveland. He’s living in Chicago, working in the community and committed to his church.
http://fox8.com/2016/02/17/charles-grigsby-journey-from-northeast-ohio-to-american-idol/

Vanessa Olivarez She is part of a duo called “Granville Automatic” that produced an album of songs inspired by Civil War stories a couple of years ago. several videos from the album are available on You Tube.
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