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‘Clash of the Choirs’ Hopes It Will Have Viewers Shouting Hallelujah!

[IMG:L]Celebrity reality shows usually put the stars in some embarrassing situation, either falling on their butts on the ice or putting their weight loss trials on national television. NBC is actually giving a few artists the chance to use their talents to mentor some new, fresh talent. Clash of the Choirs has five established musicians train hometown choirs to compete at singing popular music.

The celebrity mentors are Michael Bolton, Patti LaBelle, Nick LacheyKelly Rowland and Blake Shelton. Bolton and Labelle took time away from their preparation to discuss the show, perhaps giving their competitors more time to squash them. There’s no animosity between artists though. Everyone just wants to see their hometown boys and girls succeed.

In the big city of Philly, Labelle had to wade through many applicants before finding 20 choir-worthy singers. “I went to a church and shouted out for some great singers and then I had to listen to them, actually just listen and then we had to do the rehearsals after auditioning,” said Labelle. “It was not easy. It was not easy to find great voices, but it finally did happen. That was my experience and it was wonderful.”

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In his home town of New Haven, Conn., Bolton wound up auditioning people in the same bar where he hustled gigs as a struggling young father. “It was a tough assignment, and it was also kind of powerful for me because it took me back to my hometown of New Haven,” said Bolton. “When I was listening to the singers on stage, it just reminded me of how long ago I had performed in New Haven just to put food on the table for my family. Now I was auditioning people to be on the national stage in front of millions and millions of people. So it was a very intense journey for me, and like Patti, I think that it was more difficult to find the great voices than I thought at first. But then they showed up.”

[IMG:R]During the audition process, the singers ran into a number of fans, which created some difficulties. “[One] guy sounded like a punk,” recalled Labelle. “I said, ‘What’s up?’ and so he said, ‘I’m just nervous, Ms. Labelle.’ I said, ‘Well, you’ll never get a job like that, honey.’ So what I did the next day is I stayed in the hallway hidden and had him sing without seeing my face. And guess what? He was still a hot mess. So I didn’t choose him but it’s true. He couldn’t sing with or without me, but he sounded good to my son and my musical director when I wasn’t there.”

With his own share of nervous nellies, Bolton showed a tad more compassion. “It’s strange for them,” he sympathized. “It’s a surreal experience for them when they’ve seen you through the years, they see your face, they’ve heard your songs and your records. They know that this is what you do for a living, this is what you’ve done with your life. Here they are, singing. I forgot that when I was in the room because I had a mission. I forgot about the individual, the obstacle or the hurdle that they had to jump over, which was get beyond who’s in the room and just do what it is that you’ve always loved to do which is sing. I’m just imagining Patti. I was just imagining sopranos or altos trying to sing with Patti. If I were them, I would be frightened. I’d be terrified.”

The artists selected not only the 20 best singers to form a choir, but 20 singers who could coexist as a single voice. “I had the opportunity to bring them together, turn 20 voices into one voice, walk them through the process of a professional preparation for a national television show in front of tens of millions of people,” said Bolton. “Anybody who wasn’t good enough to sing in the 20-person choir, they just weren’t going to make national TV for me. I think the fact is that you’re actually watching people do what they love to do, which is what you wanted to do as a kid. You’re watching other people become inspired by the pure love of singing. It takes you back to what it was all about when you first started. That’s the depth of it to me.”

Because the needs were so specific, Labelle could keep hopes up for anyone she had to reject. “First of all, I didn’t want to judge people and tell them that they’re not good, but what I said to the ones who didn’t make the list of 20, that didn’t mean that that’s the end of your life,” she said. “Patti Labelle does not control the rest of your life. [For] this 20 for the NBC Clash of the Choirs, there wasn’t enough room. So my whole problem was having to say no to people.”

[IMG:L]With their choirs in place, each artist could put their own stamp on their groups. Labelle had a personal trick she taught hers. “Do you know how to get a standing ovation?” she asked. “You have to sing like a running white woman afraid of a black man snapping her back. With my choir is I have more white than black. So I’m not prejudiced. I said scream like a woman with a black man chasing you, trying to get your purse. Those girls have those opera voices I have in my group and they’re afraid to sing their two octaves up. So I scare them. I scare them because some people have voices and they’re lazy to use them. So mentally I tell all of them to act like you’re the lead singer of this choir. Every one, all 20 of you are the lead singer of this one choir. You have carry everybody.”

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Clash of the Choirs does not have its artists sing traditional gospel songs. The artists chose songs from all genres to give a choir twist. “It’s really not a gospel choir,” said Bolton. “It did dawn on me that since the range of music was open for us, that we could widen the choices of songs and we would need more than just one specific type of singer for this choir. That’s what we wound up including some elements of rock. It really goes from R&B to pop to rock ‘n’ roll and sometimes a mixture of all of them. So I was able to draw upon using choirs, using big background groups in the studio which we’ve been doing forever and has been done forever, from church to the Stones to contemporary pop music.”

The songs are still under wraps until the show airs, but the artists did discuss how they narrowed down their choices. ” I could say for my choir, I’ve chosen like 100 songs,” said Labelle. “We have to see which ones could be cleared. Now we’re down to seven songs. I think each choir has to learn seven songs and we chose all kind of different songs: pop, rock, gospel, a Christmas song and country/western. It’s down to seven songs but I can’t tell you the seven because I’m not allowed to.”

The artists have spent three weeks with each of their groups preparing for the live show. Once the novice singers are in front of national audiences, anything can happen. “When they start thinking about what’s really going to happen and what this is all about, they start getting really nervous,” said Bolton. “So I try to add some levity. I try to lighten it up or joke around a little bit and just release a little bit of their tension, and then just get them into thinking about how much they love what they’re singing, and feel what they’re singing. We’re watching this organic process where they’re getting to know the songs more and more as they rehearse more and more. But you still have to guide them and direct them so that it gets tighter and more as one big, powerful instrument.”

[IMG:R]Here, Labelle again takes the tough love approach. “The suggestion that I’ve given the choir is not to be punks,” she said. “Okay? No punks allowed. You have to go out and really want to win. And you really have to leave all your shyness in your home. Leave it at home because when you’re in front of all of these people, four other choirs, you’re going to have to show your best.”

Clash of the Choirs airs from Monday, Dec. 17 through Thursday, Dec. 20 on NBC.

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