Talk:R. J. Helton

message: For unjustifiable reasons this highly relevant article has disappeared and needs to be recreated ASAP.  Best, --24.154.173.243 01:52, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Before this Wiki page was redirected and subsequently recreated, it contained an external link to an RJ Helton fan club website. Since there's no clear indication that the website had been officially affiliated with Helton (it may have been, but I haven't seen any reason to assume that it was), I won't include a link to the website in the current version of this Wikipedia article. But it's worth noting here that the website contained music by Helton that wasn't included on the album, Real Life. Apparently Helton had two demo albums, each with five tracks, and also released at least four songs after Real Life. Unfortunately, the fan site isn't online anymore, and none of the downloads seem to work in the version of the fansite that was archived by the Way Back Machine. --Jpcase (talk) 17:32, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I somehow must have not noticed until now that the fan club website in question, rjaholics.com, is listed as Helton's official fan club in the links section of Helton's official website, as can be seen at the bottom of the page here. As such, I feel comfortable using rjaholics as source for the simple, non-contentious claim that Helton released demo albums prior to his participation on Idol. --Jpcase (talk) 02:55, 26 April 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: It's also worth noting that rjaholics included an "exclusive" download of "Even If (Jones & Sol Pacifico's Vibelicious Island Breeze Club Mix)" on this page. Unfortunately, there no longer seems to be any way to download the song. --Jpcase (talk) 17:40, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I've also found out that rjaholics was run by the same person who ran Helton's official website, as explained here. --Jpcase (talk) 21:16, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fan Club website 

message: I'm not sure yet if I'll find a way to work either of these into the article - but wanted to note two interesting magazine pieces about Helton that I've come across. The first, which can be seen here, is an interview with CCM Magazine that Helton and Kelly Clarkson did together in May 2004, just a couple months after the release of Real Life. The second, which can be seen here, is a story published in the January/February 2004 issue of Campus Life. According to this archived page from Helton's official website, the Campus Life article was that issue's cover story. --Jpcase (talk) 20:13, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Additional sources

message: For my benefit, I'm making a list here of all songs released by Helton that weren't on Real Life, the Idol compilation CD, or part of his collabs with Scott Alan. I'll add more as I find them and will likely post most or all of this to the Discography section eventually.
Demo Albums  
*Demo Album #1
**When You Touch Me
**You Saved Me
**Where Is Your Heart
**Rachel's Song
**Praise Him
*Demo Album #2
**His Eye Is On The Sparrow
**Let Me At Your Heart
**If It Breaks My Heart
**Maybe Manana
**Blinded By The Blue
RJ-Aholics Exclusive 
*"Even If" (Jones & Sol Pacifico's Vibelicious Island Breeze Club Mix)
Jpcase (talk) 14:23, 28 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Non-album music 

message: I've added Helton's two demo albums to the discography section. As mentioned in the previous talk page sections, I'm using Helton's officially endorsed fansite, RJAholics.com, as a source. But I also managed to track down a physical copy of Helton's first demo album and am able to use that as an additional source. The fansite is actually missing a track from that first demo album - only five tracks are listed on the fansite, whereas in reality the album has six tracks. The sixth track is an acappella version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". According to RJAholics, this same song is also the first track of Helton's second demo CD. I don't know if Helton made two separate recordings of the song or not. RJAholics does not describe the track on the second demo album as an acapella recording, so these might be different versions. But I haven't been able to track down a physical copy of Helton's second demo album, so I can't say for certain. 
RJAholics simply titles Helton's first two demos as RJ's Demo CD #1 and RJ's Demo CD #2. That said, the physical copy of the first demo is titled R. Jay, so I've used that title for it in the discography. It bears emphasizing that the title writes his first initial simply as "R." but then spells out his second initial as "Jay". I have never seen Helton's name stylized this way anywhere else. 
I've also been able to add a few album details, such as the year and label, for the first demo, using the album's back cover as a source. Jpcase (talk) 14:37, 30 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Demo Albums