“Most of what I do doesn’t feel controversial,” he says. “I’m just the same Adam I’ve always been, and in the circles I run in, it’s not all that shocking.” Born in Indianapolis and raised in San Diego, Lambert showed a flair for the dramatic at an early age, appearing in various school theater productions; he went on to tour with a production of Hair and worked as a performer on a cruise ship for a year. That was all pre-Idol. Now he’s calling the shots, looking forward to an upcoming summer tour and hoping eventually to cross over into acting. “There’s been a void in mainstream music of a male performer who’s theatrical, campy, over the top. That’s something that used to be celebrated, and I haven’t seen that lately. So I think that’s an interesting challenge—to fill that spot.”
