It’s no secret that David Archuleta, the runner-up on season 7 of “American Idol,” knows how to tell a story when he sings. Now the 19-year-old pop star is telling his own story – from the high notes (his success during and after “Idol”) to the low (when he was 12, vocal cord paralysis nearly put an end to his dreams of a musical career) – in the book “Chords of Strength” (Celebra), which hit bookstores Tuesday.

Archuleta is on a book-signing tour. He phoned from Hollywood, where he was attending last week’s “American Idol” finale, and chatted about his book, “Idol” and his upcoming album.

Question: How afraid were you that you might never sing again?

Answer: I was really scared. Music is the only thing I really felt passionate about. … I was told I could have the surgery, which is really risky, or I could see what voice therapy could do for me after a couple of years. The doctors told me the surgery could permanently damage my throat. So I decided to go to therapy. … I learned that it was up to me to do the effort and put the work into it if I wanted it. It totally paid off.

Q: How did being on “Idol” help you to be a better performer?

A: It’s what got me really performing in the first place. When “American Idol” started, I said, “I want to do what those people are doing.” It made me feel so empowered. … It was all about showing who you are as a person. A lot of yourself starts coming out when you’re performing.

Q: In the book, you said you were harder on yourself than the judges were. What would you have done differently?

A: I’m not much for changing the past. It’s something you can’t change.

Q: What do you think “Idol” will be like without Simon?

A: It’s going to totally change the dynamics of the show. But like Simon said, the viewers really make the show because they’re the ones who are voting. They’re choosing who goes on and that’s what’s really the magic of the show.

Q: Now that your book is done, are you working on another album?

A: Actually, I have a new single that should be coming out in July, and the album will be coming in the fall. … I got really involved in the writing. The songs are going to be more about my life. This is going to show more of me, more of my personality. I’m a quirky kind of person, so I wanted to show more of my unique personality.

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David Archuleta looks at the world with an appreciative sense of wonder that’s both charming and appealing. That trait comes through loud and clear in the 19-year-old’s book, Chords of Strength: A Memoir of Soul, Song, and the Power of Perseverance, out this week.

Most celebrity memoirs, especially ones from young stars, read like superficial, thrown-together works. ButChords of Strength is something different: It genuinely captures David’s voice, in both its content and its cadence. Reading the book is like listening to him speak.

The book spends as much time on the way David views life as it does with his personal history. American Idol weaves through the story on many levels — attending the first season’s finale shows, meeting future contestants Joelle James (a Season 6 semi-finalist) and Tori Kelly (a Hollywood contestant during Season 9) while competing on Star Search and, of course, his time on the show.

David also discusses his vocal paralysis at length. While he was on Star Search, David was diagnosed as having one working vocal cord and one that was paralyzed, a condition that forced him to stop singing publicly for a while. Though he eventually regained his voice, he learned the true extent of his condition during his Idol run.

“The one vocal cord, it seemed, had actually grown up over and around the weak one in order to adjust for the other one not working,” he writes.

The book several lists, such as favorite artists, interviews and Idol memories. David also offers a musical appendix listing several of his favorite songs, which range from Mariah Carey’s Butterfly to Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir.

It’s hard to imagine one of David’s fans not enjoying Chords of Strength. It would also be instructive for aspiring singers considering the talent-competition route, since David goes into great detail about the things in his life that prepared him forIdol and his thought processes and biggest challenges during the show.

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Today, season 7 runner-up David Archuleta paid a special, jam-packed visit to the SomethingPitchy studio to promote his new memoir, ‘Chords of Strength.’

Among the many topics discussed in this 43-minute-plus interview: The inspiration behind writing a book, details on his upcoming CD, his thoughts on ‘American Idol’ season 9 and a look back at some of his most memorable tweets.

When will his next CD hit shelves? And will he go on tour after it’s released? Find out by watching our exclusive video interview below, then be sure to post your reactions in the comments section below.

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From @gabydunn:

David signed a book while he was here and we’re working on a contest for fans to be able to win it! It’s got a pretty hilarious inscription.

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More pictures HERE and on MJ’s Big Blog

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Can any 19-year-old say he has lived enough of a life to fill a memoir? Even if those 19 years have contained experiences on not one but two reality-competition shows, plus concert tours and rubbing elbows with the great, the near-great and Justin Guarini?

America will get to answer those questions starting today with the nationwide release of Chords of Strength: A Memoir of Soul, Song and the Power of Perseverance , written by “platinum-selling recording artist and ‘American Idol’ star” (it says so on the dust jacket) David Archuleta. Archuleta (with help from a ghost-writer, Monica Haim, whose name isn’t on the dust jacket but in small type on the inside title page) admits in the book’s introduction that he hates writing — but he wanted to make sure his story was told.

“I get interviewed all the time and several of my incredibly amazing fans have made very detailed scrapbooks about my life,” Archuleta writes in his introduction. “Did I want to rely on everyone else to tell my story of how I started, where I came from and who I am? People were keeping track of me, but no one really had my own story.” Archuleta tells that story, for 248 pages, in the sort of plain-spoken prose you’d expect from a 19-year-old. Nothing wrong with that, and in fact Archuleta’s fans — and, let’s be honest, that’s who will plunk down $22.95 retail for this book — would probably be put off if he started sounding like Proust.

But there’s not a lot in Archuleta’s story that his fans don’t already know, and the basics can be found on his Wikipedia page. He was born in Florida, the second of five siblings. His mom was born in Honduras and moved to the United States at 14 — after missionaries helped convert her family to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He inherited a love for music from his mom and his dad.

What may surprise the casual observer is that Archuleta’s “overnight success” was anything but overnight. He won a Utah talent competition at age 10, overcoming a bout of stage fright, and appeared on “The Jenny Jones Show.” At 13, he was appearing on a revamped “Star Search.” Archuleta relates to his fans by showing he can be as starstruck as they are. There’s a funny anecdote about how his dad scored tickets to the first “American Idol” finale — and how he, at age 11, sang in a hotel lobby for a gaggle of “Idol” finalists, including Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, hours before they were to compete for the last time.

The most dramatic moment of the book is Archuleta’s account of the paralysis that struck one of his vocal cords near the end of his “Star Search” run. Returning to Utah, he writes that he enjoyed being back with friends, but “it was also kind of depressing because I felt like I had somehow lost a little piece of my identity. … I started to wonder if maybe it was a test from God.”

That’s about as introspective as the shy, unassuming Archuleta gets in this memoir. But it’s not the last he talks of God. Chapter 8, “Divine Frequency,” is all about his religious faith and how it guided his music. In LDS parlance, Archuleta is “bearing his testimony.” (He uses one of the LDS-preferred terms for God, “Heavenly Father,” three times in two paragraphs — without any translation for non-Mormon readers.)

In the final chapters, Archuleta also praises his family, the power of music, even the Boy Scouts of America. (He earned his Eagle Scout rank shortly before turning 18.) If he weren’t a real person, one might think Archuleta was created in George M. Cohan’s imagination. From its fond reminiscences of early success through its apple-pie earnestness, Chords of Strength is a memoir you can bring home to Mom. If you want a scathing tell-all about the seamy underbelly of the recording industry, you won’t find it here. Wait another 19 years, and maybe Archuleta will have collected the material for that kind of book.

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Credit: 8throwcenter

Credit: jatthebeach

Interview with Walter from Bookends:

Nice convo with Walter from Bookends 6/1/10 re: David Archuleta book signing for Chords of Strength. Also starring Mom Patti, Nikki, and Maggie. Before I started rolling pixels, he had been saying how impressed he was that the David Archuleta fansites all worked together to get the word out.

Credit: djhsail

Also, photos from Paul Zimmerman Photography and P. Joseph Photography

More pictures from AI Now, like this:

Fan Pictures

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son losing it right at the signing… but, he was a real trouper for 2 hours :)

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Interesting tweets

From @DavidArchie:

The day is here! “Chords of Strength is officially out TODAY!!! Woo hoo!!! It’s gonna be an awesome day!

Woops, I meant to put another quotation mark. “Chords of Strength” :)

Hey guys, the fansites have the photo winners’ names up! Congrats you guys and thanks so much for sending in your photos for the book!!

The names should also be going up on the official site soon! Gotta head to another interview now :)

On my way to Bookends in Ridgewood, New Jersey soon for my very first book signing ever! Can’t wait to see those of you coming!!

Hardcore rain suddenly! Hope everyone who’s been waiting is ok! Hopefully we can get everyone inside who’s in line!

Oh… The rain just died down. Well that was interesting lol.

Had a really great dinner at a restaurant called Grape Leaves down here in Ridgewood! At Bookends now getting ready for signing!

Manhattan is tomorrow. Gonna try and get some sleep for interviews tomorrow morning. Thanks again everyone!

From @BookendsNJ:

Bookends so happy to host David and his fans! Thanks for showing your support. The rain did not rain on David’s Parade of Fans!

Bookends can tell you love David! Greatest of guys, super talented and his fans are the best!It’s a relationship of giving on both sides.

Hello from Oregon Too! Wow.They say they are trending Chords of Strength. It’s going to hit the New York Times Best Seller List we predict!

Hey David Archuleta Fans! We have extra signed books! Thanks David! Call Bookends in the MORNING at +1-201-445-0726!

From @rarchiefan:

Wow over 1500 copies of#ChordsofStrength sold today at bookends. Way to go David Archuleta!! ♥

From @muldur:

@Houstonrufus @ahecht25 My friend is the one who got told 1500. I am really not sure of that. Guy said it was a record for their signings.

From @JOHN_AF:

@nareejo A few tweets saying around 1,500 + the 500 he signing last night. Bookends said it was a record for their signings.

From @rhiminee:

Someone at the signing said that a store employee said that David sold more books than any previous artist they’d had there for a signing.

From @CandyFOD:

@DavidArchie-They said you sold 1,500 book which ties or breaks the old store record held by Ozzy Osborne! Quite an accomplishment at 19!

From @lisakaitlin:

So someone was crying and david asked her what was wrong and she was like “my boyfriend broke up with me! so he gave her a hug.

From @IzabellaArchie:

i had to wait in the hot/humid/rain/thunder for 7 HOURS to meet @davidarchie ! but it was worth it :D

okay so everyone is asking for my story so here it is…

I left my house at 11 am and arrived at the book store at 12. There were about 20 people already there and thousands of books in the store. Me and my friend sat down and started reading his book. We made a lot of cool fans in line and we all kept each other entertained. We waited in line for about 7 hours ! We heard david was coming from the back entrance so me and a couple others waited there but police kicked us out and escorted us to our original spots. So they took about 100 of the first fans in line downstairs and we were all waiting in suspense for david. Me and my friends played davids music and we all were singing. At 7 david came into the room and everyone was going crazy. So it was my turn and i had a ring with me so i popped the question! LOL. heres my convo (or atleaast something like this i dont rememeber perfectly what he said.
Me: HEY DAVID !
David: Hey !
Me: I have a question
David : Yah?
Me: will you marry me??
David: Laughing umm
Me: no really will u marry me haha
David: well i just met you it takes two people who have known eachother
Me: DAVID we met before i met u 2x !
David: Ohh ahah umm well maybe if we got to know eachother
*David takes my ring and looks at it”
Me: okay so u can call me haha . and then i said ohh wait i made u a scrapbook
David: Oh woww thanks !
Me: ur welcome
David: Bye
Me: BYE HUSBAND ;)
David: laughs and says byeee
and then i scream veryyyy loud and he laughs

(oh and at the end of the day my mom saw what car he came from so we took pics with it) black limo with a license plate “7music”

well theres my day :D sorry its long haha

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From @tamster1328:

@lisahi he was “finally done” I think by 10pm :P

Signatures

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Live stream: http://www.fox13now.com/

Credit: calpilotmike

Don’t forget to trend #ChordsOfStrength!

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Full interview on Good Day NY website:

MYFOXNY.COM – Viewers of season 7 of American Idol likely had no idea that the runner-up, David Archuleta, struggled with insecurities about his voice while growing up. Archuleta talks about overcoming vocal chord paralysis in his new book, ‘Chords of Strength.’

You can meet David Archuleta in person. He’ll be signing copies of his new book at the following book stores:

June 1: Bookends, Ridgewood, NJ

June 2: Borders Books, Columbus Circle

June 3: B&N, Lake Grove, NJ

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Full interview on youtube:

Credit: AMCTube2010

Some screencaps:

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Naked Cowboy…

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