Clay Aiken Soaps Up

Fri., Oct. 27, 2006 7:14 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Calling all Claymates, we have a TiVo alert.

Clay Aiken is set to guest star as himself on NBC's Days of Our Lives, the network confirmed Friday to E! News.

The American Idol-endorsed pop star will sing the song "Everything I Have" off his new album, A Thousand Different Ways, as part of a "private concert" for the long-running soap's Steve and Kayla (Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans).

Aiken's 2004 version of "O, Holy Night" will also be featured in the episode, which airs Dec. 22, giving Claymates their fix just in time for Christmas. Raleigh's favorite son also recently announced a 16-date holiday concert tour for the final month of the year, during which he'll be accompanied by live orchestras.

This won't be Aiken's first time delving into daytime drama, though. He appeared last year as a guest on the talk-show-within-a-show "New Beginnings," hosted by Susan Lucci's Erica Kane, on the ABC soap All My Children.

A Thousand Different Ways, Aiken's cover-heavy third album, dropped in September and peaked at number two on the Billboard charts. The disc features four original songs as well as 10 tunes made famous by Foreigner, Bryan Adams, Dolly Parton, Celine Dion, Elton Jon and others.

And obviously there are plenty of ladies out there aching to hear Clay cover "I Want to Know What Love Is," "Because You Love Me" and "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)." The 27-year-old heartthrob was voted "Sexiest Male Singer" by InStyle readers for the third time in a row this year.

"We realized as we were picking new songs that they just don't make songs like they used to," Aiken told Voice of America last month. "Then, eventually [RCA Music Group chairman] Clive Davis said, 'you know what - let's just do an album full of the greatest love songs ever.'"

Also during that interview, the Measure of a Man purveyor addressed one of the more pressing rumors that have been tailing him since finishing second on American Idol in 2003.

"What I do in my private life is nobody's business anymore, period," Aiken said in response to yet another question about how he deals with rumors that he's gay.

"You know, it's one thing to try to be open and talk to people and try to share as much as I can. And, of course, I want to do that. But, at some point, it just becomes really rude. You know what, I'm not spending my time with this anymore. This is a waste of my time."