RULES FOR CONTESTANTS
Dayton, Ohio (April 14, 2009) – In celebration of The Contours’ upcoming visit to Dayton and their performance at the National City SuperPops Series, the Dayton Philharmonic has announced Motown Idol, a regional search to locate two of the best R&B singers in the Southwest Ohio region. Ultimately, two winners will perform a Motown classic tune on stage with The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts and the full Dayton Philharmonic; one winner to perform on Friday night, May 8 and one on Saturday night, May 9.
The search starts with a karaoke performance contest and party at Therapy Café, 452 East Third Street on Thursday, April 23. Doors open at 4:00, and the registration to compete starts at 6:00 pm with the competition to commence around 8:00 pm. Those wishing to audition should plan to arrive early. Only solo singers will be considered. Singers must audition with Motown hits. Popular LITE 99.9 midday radio host Ryan Phillips will emcee. Dwaine Wheeler, Therapy Café’s Music Director and Nancy Sell of Nancy’s Karaoke will guide this entertaining event. There will be no cost to participate in the contest and no cover charge that evening at the popular Dayton nightclub. The evening’s auditions will be captured on video, and highlights will be posted on YouTube.
DPO will provide a judging panel comprised of local glitterati who will be tasked with winnowing the evening’s contestants down to 12 semi-finalists. Therapy Café is open until 2 am, concluding this first round of Motown Idol. The twelve singers will then return to Therapy Café on Thursday, May 7th for a second event, auditioning for The Contours themselves, again in a karaoke setting. The storied Motown artists will select six semi-finalists. The six semi-finalists will be announced on WDTN-TV2 at 12 noon the following day, May 8th. Two teams will be revealed: three singers to appear on stage Friday night and three on Saturday night.
All six finalists will rehearse with The Contours and the DPO early Friday, May 8th. Each concert evening, one of the teams will appear at the beginning of the concert to perform for that evening’s SuperPops audience. Each singer will take a verse with The Contours’ Music Director Glen Raby at keyboard. The audience will be provided with ballots in their program books and will cast them for their favorites at intermission. During the second half, the ballots will be tallied backstage, and that night’s winner will perform I Heard it Through the Grapevine with The Contours at the conclusion of the show. Those interested in competing should know that The Contours and the DPO will perform the famous Marvin Gaye hit in E minor.
Southwest Ohioans are encouraged to dust off their vocal cords, dig up their best Motown garb, and join Neal Gittleman and friends at Therapy Café for an evening of Motown Idol.
# # #
About The Contours
The Contours have proudly worn the label “Motown’s #1 party group” for more than 40 years. Today under the leadership of Sylvester Potts, who sang on virtually every charted recording, The Contours are center stage once again. Much of the resurgence in The Contours popularity has to do with the Academy Award winning film, Dirty Dancing. Their hit
Do You Love Me (
Now That I Can Dance) was featured in the film and became so popular that it gave birth to an international tour entitled
The Dirty Dancing Tour starring The Contours, Bill Medley, Merry Clayton and Eric Carmen. That tour lasted 10 months, played to over 2 million people in 8 countries and sold over 10 million copies of
More Dirty Dancing before it ceased production. During this time, Motown Records was quick to capitalize on The Contours popularity by reissuing their original version of
Do You Love Me in single and album form. It was a move paid great dividends for everyone involved:
Do You Love Me climbed to #11 on the national charts, making it one of the few recordings in history to hit the top 20 in two different decades!
For photographs of Neal Gittleman, the Dayton Philharmonic or any of the various series’ guest artists, visit:
http://www.daytonphilharmonic.com/08-09/mediaaccess
About the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (DPO) is the largest and oldest performing arts organization in the community. DPO performances are made possible in part by Montgomery County and Culture Works, the single largest source of community funds for the arts and culture in the Miami Valley. Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra receives partial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Ohio Arts Council, a state agency created to foster and encourage the development of the arts and to preserve Ohio's cultural heritage. Funding from the Ohio Arts Council is an investment of state tax dollars that promotes economic growth, educational excellence, and cultural enrichment for all Ohio residents.
Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra
Performance Place at the Schuster Center ~ 109 North Main Street, Suite 200 ~ Dayton, Ohio 45402
