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Clay Aiken, Ken Curtis, Jamie O'Neal

I would like to know about Clay Aiken, who came in second on American Idol. What are his hopes and dreams and his outlook on his career? Does he have a special someone?
—Georgia C., New York

The only special someone in his life right now is his mom, Faye Parker, Clay Aiken says with a laugh. The Raleigh, N.C., native parlayed his second-place finish on the Fox contest into a recording contract with RCA. His first single, This Is the Night, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, while Measure of a Man, his debut album, appeared at the top of the album charts its first week of release. Aiken, 24, says all the songs are original and describes the album as a mix of pop, rock and soul. “I don’t have any specific plans right now,” Aiken says of his career, adding that he is taking advantage of the opportunities that arose from American Idol. “I’m letting God decide what happens and hoping I’m happy with it.” He plans to continue promoting his album. “It’s been something,” the special education major at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte says of his unexpected fame. And, he adds, it still takes some getting used to that he’s unable to go to the grocery store without being recognized. Aiken, who was a camp counselor at the YMCA in Raleigh and later filled in for a teacher in a class with autistic students, says he loved the work because each child was like “a puzzle” and it was “really exciting to go in and work with individuals finding themselves.” Last summer, he set up the Bubel-Aiken Foundation to benefit children with mental disabilities.

Can you please give me information on Festus from Gunsmoke? Where was he born and raised and when?
—Andy M., Georgia

Ken Curtis, the actor who played Deputy Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke for 10 years, died in 1991 at the age of 74. He was one of the few cast members of the show with a true Western lawman background. His grew up in Colorado, where his father was a sheriff. Curtis’ interests lay in music, and he moved to Los Angeles to become a singer. He soon joined Tommy Dorsey’s band, replacing a young singer by the name of Frank Sinatra. Still, his first big hit, after a stint in the Army, was a cowboy song, Tumbling Tumbleweeds. He went on to become one of those singing cowboys and appeared in a number of Westerns, including The Searchers. He became a regular cast member on the hit TV series Gunsmoke in 1964, replacing Dennis Weaver, who had played Deputy Chester Good, and staying until the show went off the air in 1975. He then retired in Fresno, Calif., re-emerging to work in 1983’s short-lived Western prime-time soap, The Yellow Rose, and popping up to meet with fans at the occasional Western movie convention.

I think Jamie O’Neal is a great country singer. Can you tell me where she’s from and how she became a singer?
—Carla S., Oregon

Born in Sydney, Australia, to a couple of professional musicians, O’Neal was just 2 when her family moved to Hawaii and 7 when they headed to a regular gig at the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. “Once Dad learned that my younger sister Samantha and I could carry a tune, we were on stage,” O’Neal says. They often opened shows for country artists, and she soon decided that she wanted to be in Nashville, Tenn. Eventually, that’s exactly where she ended up, after a stint as backup singer for fellow Aussie Kylie Minogue. Her first country album proved to be a huge hit, with the No. 1 song There Is No Arizona establishing her as an artist to watch. She stepped out of the spotlight for a while when she and her husband had their first child, a daughter named Aliyah, last June. When not changing diapers, she’s working on her second album.

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