The Tennessean (Dec. 16th 2007)
Blake Shelton sings to the choir in name of charity
When country singer Blake Shelton was offered the chance to be one of the stars competing in NBC's reality show Clash of the Choirs, he jumped at it without hesitation.
But doubts soon followed.
"After the fact is when I thought, 'My God, what have I gotten into?' " Shelton said. "The first thing you hear is NBC and the great opportunity and that it would be something great for the state of Oklahoma. 'Yeah, I'll do it.' After the fact, it's like, 'OK, now you've got to put together a 20-piece choir.'
"It's made up of people from your hometown area. First of all, I don't even know what the different parts are in a choir. I don't know anything about a choir. If I was putting together a band, I could do that, but I had to start from scratch."
In the show debuting live Monday at 7 p.m., Shelton will compete against Patti LaBelle (Philadelphia), Michael Bolton (New Haven, Ct.), Nick Lachey (Cincinnati) and Kelly Rowland (Houston).
Each singer returned to his or her hometown to bring together 20 individually gifted singers in an attempt to form the best choir. After assembling and rehearsing the choirs in their hometowns, the choirs will perform live in New York in a sing-off competition over four consecutive nights. Choirs will be eliminated one by one, based on TV viewers' votes.
The famous singers also will perform live for the opportunity to win a grand prize benefiting their hometown. The winning choir, along with their hometown celebrity entertainer, also will select a prize to help his or her community. Shelton conducted his choir search in Oklahoma City, and he has selected charities that benefit military families and victims of natural disasters.
"Luckily, because it's the Oklahoma area, there are just tons of singers that still live here," said Shelton, who has a home in Nashville and a farm in Tishomingo, Okla. "There are people that have never tried to pursue singing that still just hang around the state here and live normal lives that are world-class singers. Luckily, that is who turned out for my auditions, just people that blow you away. I lucked out.
"I know a good singer when I hear it. I have a guy who helped me put together how many altos, basses, tenors and sopranos I need. It's been a learning experience for me, too."
But is Shelton at a disadvantage when competing against LaBelle and Rowland, both of whom have had experience singing in groups?
"Patti LaBelle, I've got all the respect for her in the world, but she does not scare me in the least, and neither does Kelly Rowland," he said. "I couldn't care less about their choirs. I don't care about their experience.
"First of all, I don't have time to worry about them. Secondly, I'll put this choir up against anybody's choir in the world. Of course, I've got to feel that way. The first time we put them together and heard them sing, if I was wearing a hair piece, it would have blown off."
Shelton discovered that selecting the choir's songs wasn't as easy as he thought. "My first reaction would be, 'Man, we're going to do 'Family Tradition' and ol' David Allan Coe.' Then you stop yourself, 'Now, that's not going to win this thing.' So I had to rethink and separate what my personal taste is in music and think what type of music and what songs are going to help these people and me win the competition.
"Then you go back to the well and start thinking like an entertainer instead of like an artist. You have to do songs that people are familiar with, that might even shock them that you're doing."
Shelton said he's thrilled to be involved in the show.
"I talk a lot of trash about the other contestants, but the truth is, it's just fun. This is just part of what I do that is a nice change of pace and is just a good time. If we win, we get to bring back a bunch of money for charities here in Oklahoma.
"There's no way to walk away from this thing without feeling like it was a great experience."