By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders.
Patti Labelle
Clash of the Choirs sent five successful musical artists back to their hometowns to put together choir groups of 20 hopeful singers. Since Patti Labelle comes from Philadelphia, she might have had a leg up on her colleagues from smaller towns.
Labelle Recruits Her Choirs
"Voices come from anywhere," she said. "It’s like when people say that you have to be black to have soul. That’s not true, so all the voices don’t come from Philadelphia. They come from all over the world. I happen to be in a city where you have great voices but I must say that I was a little afraid when I would listen to some of my singers who went to the auditions. They were a little scary. I don’t know if the people were scared to sing or what. So I ended up with 20 great voices, though. It’s not because I’m from Philly that they’re going to be phenomenal or anything because there are phenomenal singers all over the world."
Clash of the Choirs is a live competition over four nights, so Labelle has not even heard her competition. "I don’t know what the other choirs sound like. I’m just praying that the Philadelphia choir can sing as well or better than the others. I’m praying that somebody wins. Out of the five people, somebody has to win. I heard myself on TV saying last night that I’m going to win. Now if I don’t win, it doesn’t mean that my choir are losers. They won because they were chosen to be one of the 20 choir members. Like I said, I don’t really know what the other choirs sound like. They’re going to blow me away. I know that, but we don’t know what we all sound like."
So far, LaBelle has been in training with her choir, making sure each individual singer holds up the entire group. "They grow into this one. They do after a while because I think that I take and listen to sopranos and I say, 'Oh my god, that is off' or whatever. Then we stop her and then we’ll let her listen and then she gets it. Then like you said, they all have to gel and they find a way to gel because they want this so badly, they do what they have to do, even [if they] have to go to others’ houses. All 20 of you go when you’re not rehearsing with me go there and learn the song. If anybody is singing off key in my group, I go to them and I say, 'Shhh, be quiet. Don’t sing now.' Then I’ll make them go home and they study really hard and then the next night they come back and they’re on key."
Clash of the Choirs airs December 17th through the 20th on NBC.
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