Chris Daughtry singing for Aerosmith? As surprising as that sounds, the former American Idol rocker was once asked by guitarist Joe Perry to take over frontman duties from Steven Tyler.
In a recent appearance on The Dave Rickards Podcast, Daughtry told the host that back in 2009, Aerosmith were in a holding pattern after Tyler admitted he wanted to make a solo album. Perry called him up, saying he thought Daughtry could be a good fit for the band.
"I get this random call from Joe Perry," he says. "Joe Perry and Steven were apparently at odds with each other. It was all in the news; this isn't private information. I think this was right when Steven Tyler was going on American Idol and they weren't touring together. I think it was like a public breakup sort of thing. Joe Perry calls me. I'm, like, 'First of all, I didn't know Joe Perry had my number. This is incredible.' I thought it was a joke at first, but he didn't even take time to, like, 'How're you doing?' He just went into his reason for calling me. 'And I don't know what Steven's doing, but we wanna work. How would you feel about hitting the road with us? You've got some cool songs we could play too.'"
Daughtry admits he didn't know what to say, but understood it wasn't an offer he could entertain.
"I was, like, 'Uh…' I was speechless," he explains. "First of all, I don't consider myself any caliber of singer that Steven Tyler is as far as I would not be able to tackle those songs the way Steven Tyler tackles him. He is irreplaceable, in my mind. Furthermore, Steven Tyler's alive. This whole fear of pissing off one of my heroes was just looming, and I was, like, 'There's no way I can do this, Joe.'"
For Daughtry the idea of signing for Aerosmith "was a terrifying concept, the moment the words left [Perry's] mouth." However, he maintains that getting that call allows him to have "a story that I will hold near and dear for the rest of my life, for sure."
You can listen to the entire Daughtry episode of The Dave Rickards Podcast below.