Raleigh home connects current, former Idol contestants

Raleigh native Jordan Sasser is a top 24 contestant on the current season of American Idol and Clay Aiken, season 2 runner-up, was also a Raleigh native. Aside from hailing from the same city, the families of both contestants lived in the same house at different times.

Aiken’s mother, Faye Parker, bought the Raleigh house from Sasser’s grandparents in 1986 and has lived in it ever since.

“He texted me about Jordan and said ‘mom, did you see that guy from Raleigh? He’s really good,’ and that was before I made any connections at all,” said Parker of Aiken’s initial reaction to Sasser’s performance.

Parker also has another Idol connection. She judged a Clayton Idol contest in 2009 whose winner was future American Idol winner Scotty McCreery.

A pro at dealing with everything Idol, Parker offered some advice to Sasser’s grandmother, Martha. She said to avoid going on the internet to read what people are saying about her grandson.

“They don’t say ‘I really prefer someone over them,’ they have to talk bad about them and they have to say really nasty things,” Parker said.

Martha and the rest of the Sasser family members are keeping their fingers crossed that Sasser makes it to the top 12 on the show Thursday night.

“He’s just confident he’s doing to do his very best and I think he has up to this point, but I just hope everything works out for him and we’re very proud of him,” she said.