From the time American Idol began it's second season when Ruben Studdard auditioned and made it into the finals it seemed that people were gonna begin seeing the new Luther Vandross or James Ingram but when Ruben Studdard was crowned the winner of American Idol Season 2 I think people thought he was gonna have a sound like Teddy Pendergrass and Luther Vandross and James Ingram and when he released his cover of Westlife's Flying Without Wings Ruben was destined to be a superstar. But when he released his debut album Soulful Ruben Studdard had suddenly changed from ballad superstar to R&B artist and the way they designed his image is visible on the cover because when you see the album cover Ruben Studdard is dressed like a rap artist and this wasn't the Ruben people were gonna see. And when you listen to Soulful you'll notice that it's an R&B/Rap album rather than a Luther Vandross like album. And I noticed this when I bought my own copy of Soulful and I mean where is the Teddy Pendergrass sound but instead was replaced by hip-hop and R&B. I think this reason is why Soulful didn't sell well. But Ruben had the chance to show his gospel roots in his second album I Need An Angel which would have been better for Ruben Studdard to be a gospel artist and he could've competed with Bebe Winans. But I basically think it was J Records's fault because J Records already had success with Alicia Keys and Luther Vandross and they thought Ruben would be marketable as an R&B/hip-hop artist and they repeated the same thing with Fantasia when she won American Idol. But Ruben Studdard deserved better treatment rather than become a R&B/hip-hop artist

He was huge at the beginning of his music career.