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'American Idol' singer Ace Young's career takes off

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

April 9, 2008

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Unlike most " American Idol" finalists, Ace Young didn't try to capitalize on his insta-fame with a haphazard insta-album. Instead, the Colorado native focused on the music for his debut due out June 3 on Universal. Before his promotional book tour for "Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul" stops in Westbury on Saturday, Young spoke about the future.

You had the right idea for your post-"Idol" career. You took your time. You worked with great people and now you have your new single "Addicted" and an album coming out.

The craziest thing is that when I got off the "Idol" tour, my brother Ryan said, "Gimme a list of five top producers that you want to work with and we'll call 'em. ... . You should probably get the music right the first time." The very first name I put was [Bon Jovi, Aerosmith hitmaker] Desmond Child. We knocked on his door, a 30-minute meeting turned into 3 1/2 hours and at the end of it, he said, "I'll do one song or the whole album. I prefer the whole album." I wrote seven of 11 songs with Desmond Child ... . I was a kid in a candy store.

So how'd you get involved with "Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul"?

This charity called Bear Necessities in Chicago called me and said there's this little girl. She's 3 years old and she has leukemia and her wish is to meet you. ... So we have a meet and greet and this little girl who was as high as my knee comes through the crowd and gives me the biggest hug. That's the first time I met Mackenzie and I became very close to her and her family.

All the stories in the book are charity-based. But when the "Chicken Soup" people talked to me, they wanted me to share my story of how I chose between music and football. I said, "I'm totally glad to talk about that, but there's so much other stuff I want to talk about." And they kept saying, "Ace, don't worry about it." So I'm reading the book and there was a story that was a surprise for me, from Mackenzie's mom, Amy Johnson, about how I touched Mackenzie's life. I was just blown away. When "Chicken Soup" asked me to help promote the book, I said I would love to.

And you're going to give people a sneak preview of your album?

Yeah, I wanted it to be more than just a shake-your-hand, take-a-picture kind of thing. They don't know me for that. If they know me as a singer, I should probably sing.

WHEN & WHERE Ace Young will appear at 2 p.m. Saturday at Borders Books & Music, 1260 Old Country Rd., Westbury, 516-683-8700.

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