The People's Champ

The other black Idol guys on the tour, Rickey Smith and Charlie Grigsby, stroll into the dressing room and soon are laughing with Studdard about the days when their families were on welfare and they had to eat government cheese. A discussion about how hard it was to grill the government cheese moves on to government bologna, government cornflakes and government peanut butter. In walks Clay Aiken. His eyes twinkle even when his brow is furrowed. He's the only white male in the group, and he has no idea what they're talking about. Studdard explains to him that welfare isn't just food stamps, it's also foodstuffs. "That's the best cheese ever," Studdard says. "It don't wanna melt, though. It stay hard, but that's good eatin'."

By 7:20, the dressing room is empty except for Studdard. He goes onstage last, so he doesn't start getting dressed until Grigsby, the first performer, hits the stage. Everyone else is ready to go, but Studdard is lying on the couch with his personal DVD player, singing along with Kirk Franklin in concert like he's back in a pew. Aiken smooths in wearing a white dress shirt and brown pants and says, "Ruben, I need you." Studdard glances up, and without a word hoists himself up from the couch, stands face to face with Aiken and carefully knots Aiken's purple tie like a helpful older brother. This happens every night. "I can tie my tie," Aiken says later, "but I just can't do the small knot. I make a huge knot. We were on the show, and he was trying to teach me, and I couldn't get it, so he said, 'Fine, let me just do it.' So now it's a ritual, and we don't do the show without it."