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The Sing-Off

“The Sing-Off” contestants, schedule, extras announced

Oct 22nd, 2010
by Frank.
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NBC-TV’s a cappella competition show The Sing-Off, now in its second season, has announced the lineup of a cappella groups that will compete for the $100,000 prize and a Sony Music recording contract:

  • Committed from Huntsville, Alabama
  • Eleventh Hour, a high-school group from Kettering, Ohio
  • Pitch Slapped from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts
  • Groove for Thought from Seattle, Washington
  • Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town from Oakland, California
  • Men of Note, Cherry Hill, New Jersey
  • The Backbeats from USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, California
  • On the Rocks from University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon
  • Street Corner Symphony from Nashville, Tennessee
  • The Whiffenpoofs from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

In addition, last year’s winner Nota returns for a special performance.  The show’s premiere night is Monday, December 6, from 8-10 PM, with subsequent episodes on December 8, 13 and 15, with a live finale on Monday, December 20.  (Other than the finale, the episodes were recorded in August.)

As previously reported, Ben returns as a judge, along with the rest of last year’s panel, Nicole Scherzinger (Pussycat Dolls) and Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men). The show is hosted by Nick Lachey.

New this year, Epic Records will be releasing digital tracks of each group’s performance immediately following each episode. In addition, an album by all ten groups titled The Sing-Off: Harmonies for the Holidays will be released on Epic November 30.

The Sing-Off, Season 2

Jul 29th, 2010
by Frank.
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The second season of last fall’s NBC-TV runaway hit The Sing-Off goes back into production with episodes slated to be recorded August 16 and 23 and September 2 and 8 at NBC’s Culver City, California studios. Last year’s host, Nick Lachey, and panel of judges, Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman and Nicole Scherzinger, are scheduled to return. Free audience tickets are available and being issued on line while they last.

“The Sing-Off” renewed

Apr 11th, 2010
by Frank.
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The Hollywood Reporter’s Live Feed is reporting that, as anticipated, NBC Television is renewing the a cappella competition show The Sing-Off for a second season. The first season starred Ben Folds as one of the panel of three judges who critiqued and ranked eight a cappella groups from around the country. No confirmation yet as to whether Ben will judge the second season but he was open to it as long as his schedule permits and the details could be worked out.

Exploding entertainment dollars!

Dec 14th, 2009
by Frank.
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On the first night of The Sing-Off on NBC, Ben was definitely impressed by The Beelzebubs, the singing group based at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. Ben also liked the SoCals on the strength of their performance of Queen’s Somebody to Love, particularly the high note hit by one of the singers. As we all know by now, Ben is a big supporter of a cappella music, and blogged after Monday’s episode that groups such as these need to avoid the temptation to use Autotune and other production aids (as in “some producer with computers”) because “it literally costs no money to sing with a few other people so I figure when the economy totally shits they’ll be king”. The only problem: He’s not excited to have to shop for clothes for each night.

Update: Ben’s posting his observations on the show to his website rather than blogging. Tuesday night had some rousing performances of classics and “guilty pleasure” songs that had Ben asking “Pass me the dramamine!”. The show is giving Ben great exposure. He’s been a guest on many late night TV shows, but he hasn’t had this much prime-time TV air time ever. And the exposure is great, too – The premiere of “The Sing-Off” gave NBC its strongest rating in the 18-49 demographic all season with an estimated 6.9 million viewers overall. Night two was up 13 percent in adults 25-49 over night one, with 6.95 million viewers overall. Night three dipped a bit, to 6.6 million.
2009-12-14

Folds to judge NBC-TV singing contest show

Nov 23rd, 2009
by Frank.
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Ben will be a celebrity judge on the NBC-TV four-night holiday event “The Sing-Off”, which premieres December 14, continuing December 15 and 16, culminating in a live finale on December 21. The show, hosted by Nick Lachey, also features Shawn Stockman of the group Boys II Men and Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls. The format is a sing-off of eight a cappella groups, which include Beelzebubs from Boston, Massachusetts; Noteworthy from Provo, Utah; Face from Boulder, Colorado; Maxx Factor from Baltimore, Maryland; Nota from San Juan Puerto Rico; The SoCals from Los Angeles, California; Solo from Omaha, Nebraska and Voices of Lee from Cleveland, Tennessee. Each is vying for a grand prize of US $100,000 and an Epic recording contract. Groups will perform popular songs of various genres in their own unique a cappella style without a backup band, and viewers will vote on the grand prize winner.

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