David Cook is emerging as American Idol’s force to be reckoned with. The biggest criticism that many people have about David Cook is that he does alternate arrangements that are not his own – without giving due credit. People are missing the point by stirring up any controversy – the takeaway here is that he sings the arrangements well!

His rendition of “Billie Jean” had people flapping about ripping off Chris Cornell without giving credit. Truth is, Ryan Seacrest announced the song as Chris Cornell’s and David Cook later mentioned the arrangement in a later show. During the results show that week, Ryan Seacrest commented that Chris Cornell liked the way David Cook sang it.

And… the buzz about David Cook singing “Billie Jean” led to increase in downloads of Chris Cornell’s song. Hey, any publicity is good publicity and when someone is paying tribute by actually doing a bang up job, that’s not all bad.

David Cook was hospitalized following the April 1 American Idol show and released – it’s since been reported that his brother is battling cancer and David Cook is suffering from stress.

Here are David Cook’s performances:

• David Cook’s American Idol Audition (Video)
• “So Happy Together” (Video)
• “Alright Now” (Video)
• “Hello” (Video)
• “Eleanor Rigby” (Video)
• “Daytripper” (Video)
• “Little Sparrow” (Video) – incidentally, David Cook did his own arrangement on this one
• “Innocent” (Video)