# A Thousand Different Ways

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A Thousand Different Ways is the third studio album by Clay Aiken. The album, which was executive produced by Jaymes Foster, consists of ten covers and four new songs. It was released by RCA on September 19, 2006. The first single was "Without You" and the second, "A Thousand Days."
Writers of the four new songs ("These Open Arms", "Lonely No More", "A Thousand Days" and "Everything I Have") include Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, Andreas Carlsson, Jeremy Bose, Aldo Nova, Samuel Waermo, Mimmi Waermo, and Aiken himself. "These Open Arms" previously appeared as a bonus track on the Japanese issue Bon Jovi's 2005 album Have a Nice Day.
Available only through iTunes as a bonus cut when the complete album is downloaded, is a fifth new song titled "Lover All Alone". Aiken wrote the lyrics and David Foster wrote the music.
"Broken Wings" is the last cut on the album and an original poem written by Erin Taylor was woven throughout the lyrics. The last line of this poem which is also the last line added to the song lyrics became the album title.
Kmart offered for a limited time (as a download) an exclusive bonus recording of "If You Don't Know Me by Now".

## Sales and chart performance

The album, selling 211,000 units in its first week, made its debut on the Billboard charts at number two on the Billboard 200, number three on Digital Albums and number one on Internet Sales.
The album received RIAA Gold certification on November 2, 2006 and spent 14 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.

## Track listing

On his 2005 Juke Box Tour, Aiken previewed 3 other songs that did not make the final album cut. "Back For More" was sung at every concert date after its introduction at GMA's Summer Concert Series in 2005. "Tears Run Dry" and "Just You" each got one third of the JBT performance dates.

## Personnel

* Stephen Lu – String arranger and conductor, piano
* Dorian Crozier – drums
* Tommy Barbarella – Keyboard
* Owsley & Greg Suran – Guitar
* Ken Chastain – Percussion
* Suzie Katsyama – String contractor
* Charlie Bisharat – Violin
* Michele Richards – Violin
* Matt Funes – Viola
* Larry Corbett – Cello
* Jonas Groning – String arranger
* Henrik Nordenback – Drums, Percussion
* Sebastian Nyhlund – Electric guitar, Acoustic Guitar
* Esbjorn Ohrwall – Electric guitar
* Thomas Blindberg – Bass
* Fredrik Larsson – Piano
* Emil Heiling – Background vocals
* Michael Bland – Drums
* Jason Scheff – Background Vocals
* Nikki Hassman – Vocal Production, Background Vocals
* Rasmus 'Raz' Billie Bahncke – Keyboard & Drum Programming, String arranger
* Rene Tromborg – Drum Programming
* Cliff Lin – Drum Programming, Guitars, Assistant Engineer, Editing
* Rebecca Walker – Background Vocals
* Jeff Bova – String arranger
* Jules Chaiken – String conductor
* Emanuel Kiriakou – Piano, Acoustic & Electric guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Programming
* Jimi Englund – Drums, Percussion
* Doug Petty – Hammond B-3
* Tom Leonard – Background Vocals
* Russ Irwin – Guitars, Keyboards, Programming
* Charlton Pettus – Guitars, Bass, Programming
* Ryan Brown – Drums
* Quiana Parler – Background Vocals
* Adam Anders – Keyboards, Guitars, Bass
* Shawn Pelton – Drums
* David Foster – String arranger
* Jeremy Lubbock – String arranger
* Dean Parks – Guitar
* Erin Taylor – Additional lyrics, spoken word
* Morgan Grace – Harmony, Background Vocals

### Orchestra

* Jay Lifton – String orchestration
* Concertmaster – Marshall Coid, Principal: Dorothy Lawson, Leader: Ralph Farris
* Violins: Jonathan Dinklage, Cornelius Dufallo, Amy Kauffman, Brian Krinke, Carol Pool, Rob Shaw, Yuri Vodovoz, Marshall Coid
* Violas: Juna Chung, David Gold, Lara Lynne Hicks, Ralph Farris
* Cellos: Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf, Erik Friedlander, Dorothy Lawson

### Singles

* 2006 "Without You"
* 2007 "A Thousand Days"

## Certifications

| Country | Certification | Sales/shipments |
| United States | Gold (October 27, 2006) | 500,000 |
| Canada | Gold | 50,000 |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Clay Aiken Sings on 'GMA', 07/29/05, retrieved 09/28/06
* ↑ RIAA Gold, Platinum, Multi-platinum awards from 1/1/2006 to 12/31/2006 Archived 2007-03-06 at the Wayback Machine, page 29, RIAA, retrieved January 19, 2006
* ↑ CRIA Gold & Platinum certifications for December 2006 Archived 2007-10-01 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 25, 2007.