Music:

Partway through the second American Idol in early 2003, guest judge Gladys Knight christened corpulent crooner Ruben Studdard a "velvet teddy bear," a nod to his smooth, Luther Vandross-styled voice and his Barry White-sized girth. [read more...]

"Velvet teddy bear" Ruben Studdard won’t be eating his special meal of chicken wings and fried green tomatoes anymore.

He is now a vegetarian. He’s about 100 pounds lighter and ready to hit the road with a new show and new music. The 2003 "American Idol" winner has a new lifestyle to match his new CD, "The Return".

“I never dreamed how different I would feel after losing the weight,” Studdard told BlackAmericaWeb.com, while spending a few days last week in his hometown. “I’ve never had any health problems, but I wanted to lose the weight to prevent them in the future.”
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The Album is totally AWESOME - If you like the smooth R&B sound, you'll love this one! I love every song from the 1st track -- "The Return" (of the velvet teddybear) -- to the last track, "If Only For One Night" - the song made famous by the late great Luther Vandross!

Instead of "velvet" - I would say that Ruben is more silky smooth with this newest album! It's an ode to lovers really - AND I just love it! One of the best albums of the year I think... It is so "today" and 100% better than Ruben's 1st album. It's like the singer has found his niche!

I've included the mp3 of my most favorite song on the album - It's entitled "Listen To Ya Heart" -------> Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[MEDIA]http://jpicforum.info/10-ruben_studdard-listen_to_ya_heart.mp3[/MEDIA]

Available @ Amazon

[PaintedDiary]

Ms Jacquii,

Thank you for sharing this!!!! Loved the mp3!!!! I will be purchasing this thanks to you!!!

Kimberly

[MsJacquiiC]

hehehe - It really is an AWESOME album KIM - I'm sure you'll like it, especially if you like the mp3 I uploaded.

There's one song where he says "I'm a Casanova" ----> Girl and with those Silver Dollar Dimples of his - I can certainly see how lol

Hope you enjoy the album as much as I do!

Jacquii.

[KingAce]

I am a big Ruben Studdard fan and I heard about him being screwed by his label, good to see he recovered from that and this is an album I will look for when I get some moulah