(6/5/03, 1 p.m. ET) -- Sometimes finishing in second place is not so bad. Just ask American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken, who proved he's got the chops to be a star in front of millions of Americans on the hit Fox show. And now he has signed a recording contract with RCA Records through Idol executive producer Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings Limited.
Clive Davis will executive produce Aiken's full-length debut in consultation with Fuller. The set is due in September. Meanwhile, Aiken's debut double A side single, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and an original song titled "This Is The Night" will be released on June 10.
Davis will also be the executive producer of this year's American Idol winner Ruben Studdard's full-length studio debut album. That album is also due in September. Studdard has already released his first single, "Flying Without Wings."
Both Aiken and Studdard are already featured on a chart-topping single. The pair appear on the American Idol finalists' version of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The U.S.A.," the Number One single on Billboard Hot 100 chart for the last four weeks.
Aiken, Studdard and the rest of the Idol finalists will kick off a North American tour on July 8 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
