David Cook Says He's Better With a Guitar Than Tools

By Denise Warner Posted Jan 8th 2010 03:00PM

'American Idol' winner David Cook lends a hand to 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' this Sunday. On the show, the singer helps build a house for The Cowan family, whose 12-year-old daughter Kori suffers from a congenital blood disease.

And although Kori herself is ill, during one of her hospital stays, she raised over $35K for the American Cancer Society -- a fact that really inspired David, who lost his older brother Adam to cancer.

The former 'Idol' talked to PopEater about his experience with Ty Pennington and co., plus how good he is with a hammer and nail. "I'm probably better off with a guitar," he tells us.

Have you ever watched the show before?
I have. It's a huge honor to be involved. I think what they do on the show is fantastic – never mind the awesome reach of trying to tear down and build a new house in a week, but really just doing something for a family that deserves it.

How did you get involved?
I met the Cowan family though my family, my family near Bunker Hill, IN where this family is from. So I got to meet them at a show, specifically Kori, she's incredible. You know, to hear her story, to hear what she's been going through was crazy. ['Extreme Makeover'] reached out -- I guess somehow they had heard that we'd met or the family had mentioned me -- they asked me to be involved and I jumped at the chance.

What was the experience like, especially since you knew the family?
There was a little bit of added incentive, I think, having met them before and knowing a little bit of the story. It made it that much more pertinent to getting my hands dirty, to getting involved. You know throughout the week to try to wrap my head around everything that's going on – I mean they had a ton of volunteers, you see all these small things being done in mass to try to get this house done on time. To see it come up that quick and really to be involved with everything to putting up drywall and doing landscaping, it was incredible.

How were your skills with the tools?
I'm probably better off with a guitar. It was educational to say the least.

What was your favorite part of the process?
Really being able to see the reveal for the family – that's such a huge moment, to see ... them kind of get a boost in the right direction.

Did the show affect you particularly because of everything your own family has been through?
I don't want to say it gives me a different perspective because I do feel like everybody knows somebody who is dealing with cancer or who has dealt with cancer. So in that regard, I feel like it's something that everybody can get in tune with. But to see a 12-year-old girl taking the lead and really making steps to better those around her, in spite of the fact that she's dealing with her own issues, that's something most adults don't do. To see a little girl with that much foresight, it's inspiring. I think for me personally, it drove me and continues to drive me to do more.

You've been very involved with several charities – the Race for Hope in D.C., Stand Up to Cancer among others – what does being involved mean to you?
For me ... any chance you get to do something bigger than yourself, we should all take advantage of that. But for me, when all that happened, I was still pretty new to the limelight, I kind of wanted to take this platform and really solidify my brother's legacy, because I know what kind of man he was. That's extremely important to me, to make sure that everybody knows how great he was.

What's up next?
I'm actually in Vancouver right now, working on another record. Trying to get another record written and recorded and off the ground. On top of that ... I'll be involved with [The Race for Hope] again this year on May 2nd. So I'm very excited to continue to be involved with that organization. And really just trying to find as many avenues as possible to get a cure [for cancer] figured out.

'American Idol' starts soon. Will you be watching?
Oh yeah. I will be. I've got to see how Ellen [DeGeneres] does. I hope that maybe one season, Simon [Cowell] will just be in the best mood imaginable and won't have anything bad to say.

Have you heard the rumors that Simon may be leaving after this year?
You know, I'd heard that. I'm kind of intrigued to see how that all pans out. I think he's a major cog in the wheel that is 'Idol.' Time will tell.

Will we see you again on 'Idol' this season?
I hope so, yeah. You know, ideally, what we'd like to be able to do, I know they are bringing back 'Idol Gives Back,' I'd love to be involved with that. Hopefully we'll have some songs or a record to promote coming up pretty quick and I hope they'll let us come along and talk about it.

Tags: american idol, David Cook, ellen degeneres, extreme makeover home edition, simon cowell, ty pennington

Comments

(6)

Friday 08 January

By leroy

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Daves right up there with..Ruben Studdars, Fantasia, and that grey haired guy..YEAHHHHH !! FIRST AGAIN !! UH UH UH

By Kelly

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If you ask me American Idol is finished without Paula..I hate the way the media is pushing Ellen Degenerate on us..We don`t need her or Adam lambert shoved in our face.It makes me sick on how they have treated Paula.

By Nico

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I'm looking forward to this show. David Cook is an awesome American Idol. He is not only super talented but also extremely generous and nice...

Tuesday 01 June

By margie

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i was looking forward to see davd cook, i really like him and his music.

By Snookhookr

...and Adam Lambert says he's better with "tools" than with a guitar.

Saturday 09 January

By Scott

You made me snort coffee out of my nose! That AL joke is totally my sense of humor - I bow to you snookhookr!
Ah, back to David. He is amazing and his generosity is infectious. His entire band is made of win. Looking forward to this episode of EM HE... and to David's next album.

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