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David Cook was born on December 20, 1982 in Houston, Texas to parents Beth Foraker and Stanley Cook. The middle of three boys, David was raised in Blue Springs, Missouri. David rose to fame thanks to competing on the 7th season of “American Idol”, but his interest in music started many years before. He started singing in second grade, performing a solo in the school’s Christmas production. David performed in both choir and drama programs throughout middle and high school. When he was young, he wanted to be a professional baseball player, but found his “fastball wasn’t fast enough” and started to focus more on music.
David formed his first band, Axium, in 1999 with drummer Bobby Kerr. David was the lead singer and guitarist until the band split up in 2006. Axium released three cds together and were named one of the top 15 independent bands in the national “Got Milk?” independent band contest. Their song, “Hold” played before previews on over 20,000 screens nationwide in AMC Theatre. In 2004, they were named best band in Kansas City.
David attended Central Missouri State on a theater scholarship, though he gave up on theater after two semesters. He graduated in 2006 with a degree in graphic arts, but chose to pursue his music following his graduation. During his senior year he released his first solo cd, Analog Heart, in 2006. Analog Heart won Urban Tulsa Weekly’s “Absolute Best of Tulsa” award for “Best Locally Produced, Independent Album” in 2007, and was also chosen as as the fourth-best CD released in 2006 by website Music Equals Life.
Post the breakup of Axium, David moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to pursue his music career. He ended up joining the band Midwest Kings (MWK) where he played guitar and bass and sung backup vocals. In Tulsa, he started to record his second solo album when his younger brother, Andrew, asked him to travel with him for support during his “American Idol” audition. In August of 2007, David, Andrew, and their mother went to Omaha where Andrew auditioned. David had no intention of trying out for the show, but found himself auditioning (with the Bon Jovi song “Livin’ On A Prayer”) at the urging of his mother and his brother. Andrew didn’t make the cut, but David found himself on his way to Idol’s Hollywood Week.
On May 21, 2008, David was declared the winner of the seventh season of “American Idol” with fifty-six percent of almost one-hundred million votes cast. Post his win, eleven of David’s songs (“The Time of My Life” and songs he performed on Idol) debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, which was the highest number of new entries in a week since the Beatles in 1964.
David’s first post-Idol album (self-titled) was released on November 18, 2008. He’s currently on the “Declaration Tour” promoting the album. It has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.
