Question: The seventh season of American Idol, the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008, David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating who, which American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor, as runner-up?

Context articles: The Declaration Tour – 2009
American Idol (season 7)
David Cook (album)
David Archuleta
David Cook discography
American Juniors
David Cook (singer)
The Time of My Life (David Cook song)
American Idol
Andy Skib

Declaration Tour is the first solo headline tour of the American rock singer-songwriter David Cook, who rose to fame after winning the seventh season of the reality television show "American Idol".
 There were 152 shows in this tour, not including an extra show in Manila in the Philippines, a record for an Idol debut tour.
 The tour earned an average gross of $46,263 per show.
The seventh season of American Idol, the annual reality show and singing competition, began on January 15, 2008 and concluded on May 21, 2008.
 Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returning as judges.
 David Cook was announced the winner of the competition on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total ever recorded in the show's history.
 The split was 56 % to 44 %.
David Cook is the first major-label studio album from seventh season "American Idol" winner David Cook.
 The album was released on November 18, 2008, in the United States by RCA Records.
 It was certified platinum and has sold over one million copies in the United States.
 It has produced two top twenty singles, "Light On" and "Come Back To Me".
 The single "The Time of My Life" has also been certified platinum by the RIAA. "
Light On" was certified platinum in January 2010.
David James Archuleta (born December 28, 1990) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor.
 At ten years old, he won the children's division of the Utah Talent Competition leading to other television singing appearances.
 When he was twelve years old, Archuleta became the Junior Vocal Champion on "Star Search 2".
 In 2007, at sixteen years old, he became one of the youngest contestants on the seventh season of "American Idol".
 In May 2008 he finished as the runner-up, receiving 44 percent of over 97 million votes.
This is a list of all albums and singles released by "American Idol" seventh season winner David Cook.
 Prior to appearing on "American Idol", in 2006, Cook self-released an album, "Analog Heart", during Cook's run on "Idol" until it was removed from sale.
 As of 2009, the album has sold fewer than 5,000 units in the United States.
American Juniors is an American reality television singing competition series that was broadcast for one season, in 2003, on the Fox Network.
 The series was a spin-off of "American Idol", but with younger contestants, and had the same production team as "American Idol": it was created by Simon Fuller and 19 Entertainment, along with FremantleMedia, and directed by Bruce Gowers, and produced by Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick.
 However, unlike "American Idol", the goal of the competition was not to find a single winner, but rather to create a singing group of five of the contestants.
 In this way, "American Juniors" more closely resembled the British series "S Club Search", which had produced the group "S Club Juniors".
David Roland Cook (born December 20, 1982) is an American rock singer-songwriter, who rose to fame after winning the seventh season of "American Idol" in 2008.
 Prior to "Idol" he released an independent album entitled "Analog Heart".
 This was followed by his post-"Idol" major-label debut "David Cook" which was released on November 18, 2008 and has since been certified platinum by the RIAA.
 His second major album "This Loud Morning" was released on June 28, 2011.
 His third post American Idol and fourth overall studio album "Digital Vein" was released on September 18, 2015.
"The Time of My Life" is the debut single by American singer-songwriter David Cook, released through RCA Records and 19 Entertainment on May 22, 2008 after Cook won the seventh season of "American Idol".
 It was written by Regie Hamm and produced by Steve Lipson.
 The song is included as a bonus track on his self-titled debut major-label album.
American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by FremantleMedia North America.
 It began airing on Fox on June 11, 2002, and ended its first-run on April 7, 2016.
 In 2018, the show will make its debut on ABC.
 It started off as an addition to the "Idols" format based on the British series "Pop Idol", and became one of the most successful shows in the history of American television.
 The concept of the series involves discovering recording stars from unsigned singing talents, with the winner determined by the viewers in America through telephones, Internet, and SMS text voting.
 Winners chosen by viewers in its fifteen seasons were Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Candice Glover, Caleb Johnson, Nick Fradiani, and Trent Harmon.
Andy Skib (born November 9, 1985, San Diego, California) is the lead singer of the rock band Midwest Kings (MWK).
 He spent most of 2009 on the Declaration Tour with "American Idol" season seven winner David Cook.
 Skib has previously co-written songs with former David Cook bandmate Neal Tiemann, who also served as lead guitarist for their band, Midwest Kings (MWK).
 Additionally, he has co-written songs with artists Zac Maloy (The Nixons), Hanson, Graham Colton, and Jaret Reddick (Bowling for Soup).
 Skib is also known for his most recent solo project, To Have Heroes.
 Skib is a member of David Cook's band, The Anthemic, providing rhythm guitar, keyboards and backup vocals.
 Skib and the rest of The Anthemic worked on Cook's second album for 19/RCA Records.
 The album, entitled "This Loud Morning", was released on June 28, 2011.