i’m no backup singer
Melanie Nyema, the terrific back-up singer from the spring Taylor Hicks tour, has followed her erstwhile bosses’ lead and auditioned for American Idol. Well.
Here she is, helping Hicks close out the tour with a send-up, mash-up of “Dancing Queen” and Hicks’ AI coronation anthem.
After gigging with him for 5 months, she’s probably going into this with her eyes open, so here’s hoping she gets what she wants from it and has a good time doing it.
And thanks to “clouwho” for a pointer to this tour rehearsal vid. It’s Brian Gallagher on sax you hear with her.
categories: biz, music
tags: American Idol, backup singers, Melanie Nyema, taylor hicks
posted by what at 11:39 pm
Very surprised to see her walk into that audition room! (of course, I was surprised to find myself watching the show at all). She did well, singing a snippet of “Unwritten” - I’m glad she made it through - hopefully she’ll get some good exposure and/or contacts in the ‘biz’ through this experience. Wish her nothing but success.
Very nice to see Melanie last night. I thought she handled herself well. What, your clip made me smile….memories.
I didn’t see the first part of the show last night. At the end when they showed who had made it through I thought..wow that looked like Melanie..Low and behold it was. I wish her all the luck.
Maybe it might have been better if she didn’t mention Taylor.LOL
Simon didn’t seem to impressed! But then again what does Simon know?
I’m have to say it. I’m a bit nervous that someone coming here to check out Melanie will see the video and think ‘What the hell did Taylor do on tour?’
As it says on the video label, this was a ’send-up’ at the end of the tour. It was the (first) encore of the last show of the first big tour. Everyone who was following things was so sick of the ‘Do you think he’ll do Do I Make You Proud?’ question that when it started, there were ALL kinds of emotions in that audience. There was shock and anger. There were whispers. And there were shrieks of laughter. (I have to admit my first thought was ‘Why is he singing [i]Heaven[/i] by Bryan Adams?]) It was presumed that Taylor had said good riddance to that song after having to sing it on the huge post AI press tour.
And singing that would have been enough to give people something to talk about between tours. But then came Dancing Queen.
Why Dancing Queen?
Someone else can probably describe it better, but there was a backstage video from the rehearsals for the tour that joked about what covers they’d do. I know Abba was mentioned. I think even Dancing Queen. But my media is so jumbled, it’d take me days to find it…if I’ve got a copy.
Anyway, [i]THAT’S WHY[/i] they did Dancing Queen. Great fun!
And best wishes to Melanie!
Oops. Guess I used the wrong tags. You know what I mean.
Heh. Good point, Malisa. Yeah, this romp was the only way I could have stomached hearing Proud.
I’ll add in a good video with Melanie, if anyone knows one to suggest. I don’t have time today to do any trawling. And unfortunately, most fan videos of Hicks don’t ever show anyone else on stage but Hicks, regardless of who may be shredding it up elsewhere. But I think I’ve seen some featuring her, I just can’t think of where and when (hmmm, maybe the album promos, but I’d rather do tour)
Hi what….probably a Give Me Tonight video would showcase her….wish Melanie luck…I hate that show, though.
I’ve got a video you could post . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dDz_ZmHOsU
Ah yes, the mashup to end all mashups … the whole Abba thing was a running joke on Gray Charles as the tour was beginning. I was online that night and was stunned when he launched into DIMYP … when I realized what song they had segued into, I fell out of my computer chair laughing. By that point, GC had locked the doors, so it was a little final salute to him. For those not familiar with that saga, they probably left scratching their heads … what? what?
I thought doing Dancing Queen was a great inside joke. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was the fact that Melanie sang it and then pointed to Taylor when she sang, “You are the dancing queen.” That was risky! But I give Taylor points for having a great sense of humor.
Thanks for the video of Melanie during rehearsals. She sounds great. I love that song, btw. But why in the world she would have anything to do with AI is beyond me. Maybe she’s just hoping for a little exposure. Maybe being controlled so completely by…oh hell…it’s all been said before. Best of luck to Melanie but I’m not watching.
Here is some more background on Melanie.
This one is when she was with the Sirens USC.
http://www.rarb.org/reviews/362.html
Every single soloist is strong — there isn’t a weak one in the bunch. Let me repeat. Every. Single. Soloist. Is. Strong. Special mention goes to Melanie Nyema. (Check out her hip-hop band Stereotype.) The women are confident, articulate, and take full ownership of their performances.
The Sirens are worthy of Gabe’s talents. They’ve canned the cutesy numbers that held them back last time, choosing mainly rock and singing like they mean it. Every soloist is commendable; Shannon Bachmann and Melanie Nyema are showstoppers, just as they were on Surreal. The undisciplined sopranos I complained about last time have morphed into rock-solid role players. The CD’s design is also gorgeous and professional, highlighted by the extraordinary orthodontia in this group (a dental fantasy of perfect occlusion smiles on the back cover).
http://www.uscsirensalumni.com/98alums
Here is her American Idol audition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvYpZhOFwus
Say what you will about the infernal show, Taylor said he did it to get better gigs. It delivered, didn’t it? I suppose the wonderful Ms. Nyema has her eye wide open. Better gigs ahead. Or a damn good story to tell. This is one of those stay tuned kinda things….