Taylor Hicks Inks Record Deal

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday June 01, 2006 08:20 AM EDT

Ray Mickshaw/WireImage

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Alert the Soul Patrol: A week after being named the latest American Idol, Taylor Hicks has signed the record contract that comes with winning the FOX competition.

According to the Associated Press, the deal links the 29-year-old Alabama crooner with 19 Recordings Unlimited, the label managed by Idol creator Simon Fuller, and music mogul Clive Davis, who will oversee Hicks's first album.

Hicks's versions of the original song "Do I Make You Proud?" and the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets" will be released on June 13, with a full-length album due later this year.

Hicks's edge, Davis tells PEOPLE in its new issue, "is that he is charismatic and soulful at the same time."

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For his part, Hicks tells PEOPLE, the Idol win and upcoming American Idols Live! tour, which kicks off July 5, are the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. "As a (rising) performer, working at small venues and bars, you never get to experience the echo of the arena," he says. "Now I'm gonna hear that echo and it's a dream come true."