Meet the 2009 National Karaoke Champions
KaraokeTraveler.com has all the vital information on this years' male and female karaoke champs. Read their stories and watch their performances here before they fly off to Finland to represent the USA in the Karaoke World Championship event beginning on September 11, 2009.
For Rebecca, It’s a Family Affair
Below: Rebecca Armstong KWCUSA 2009 Female Champion with her husband and son moments after winning the top prize.
Rebecca had barely song a tune in over 15 years on the day she stood in the doorway of this strange place. It looked like part restaurant and part arcade. She wasn’t sure what to make of it but her husband had just dragged her and the kids there one day out of the blue. He never explained where they were going, he had only said to her “I’ve got something for you to do,” and he loaded everyone into the car. She didn’t know quite what to make of this eclectic place but she would soon learn that she was at Big Mama’s Karaoke Café. It was 2001, and Rebecca had no idea what “karaoke’ was. She did see people singing though, and it wasn’t long before she had a songbook in hand. She dove right in and put in her first song request; “Hero” by Mariah Carey.
Desperately nervous as she waited, she sat down and struck up a conversation with a nice fellow. He knew she was green and he told her not to worry, “just smile.” She finally sang, and it was the best feeling ever. She left the stage, walked up to her husband, smiled and said “I like this I’m coming back!”
And return she did, nearly every weekend her and her family hung out at the Karaoke Café. It was the perfect scene because of the great karaoke and the video games for the kids. Every since her first song that day Rebecca has won several contests and talent competitions, such as America’s Rising Star winner of 2003 and a $1000 cash prize at a bar called ‘Bullfeathers. She remembers the tough crowd at Bullfeathers, they were “strictly country,” she said, and she knew that singing “Proud Mary” probably wouldn’t go over too well with that crowd, but she won the country-loving hearts and minds of the audience.
Chewing Gum and Drinking Coffee
Rebecca’s singing days began at an early age in a church in Dixon, Tennessee, where she was born. Her father a deacon, and her mother a prolific singer and choir leader, were larger than life role models. That explains why Rebecca starting singing in church at the tender age of six. She says that she stopped after she married in the mid eighties and never really got back into it until a year or so after her mother passed in 2000. Looking back on her first day at the Karaoke Café, she says that part of the reason her husband took her there was to take her mind off of the emptiness left behind after her mother’s passing. And watching her sing, you can’t help but think how Rebecca now carries her mom’s torch on the stage. No doubt her mother would be proud of her winning the karaoke national championship, the rest of her family is; including her six sisters, her two sons, her daughter and no doubt her one year old granddaughter.
Even with the 15 year hiatus performing in front of a crowd, Rebecca seems comfortable on stage but she admits that she does get nervous before performances, her remedy; “chewing gum and drinking coffee.” She’s also an admitted karaoke addict, she has a machine at home and she is “always” on it, and just like everyone else, she’s been known to sing a tune in the car on the way to work or in the shower. When it come to critiques of her performance she like to watch videotapes of her performances, which Big Mama’s Karaoke Café makes available, but mostly its her husband who helps her fine tune her performances. She says, “I watch him when I’m singing, if he frowns, I know I’m in trouble.”
What does she think about Finland? She fully appreciates the her responsibility to represent the U.S. in this international competition, and with nothing short of an Olympians’ resolve, she says “I’m going to win, I’m going to entertain.” She says she does not want to let anyone down, and as to whether or not she feels that she is ready for such high level competition, she points out “ I’m seasoned, and as ready as I’m ever going to be.”
|
KWCUSA 2009 |
Click here for a recap of the KWCUSA event in Cincinnati, Ohio
I Was a "Bona-Fide
Corporate Singing
Cowboy"
Brian Scott, the dark horse winner of the 2009 competition remembers pretending to be in “a big singing contest” when he was just a small child hanging with his cousin as they sung their hearts out using her hairbrush as a microphone. He tells KWCUSA that “I came out of the womb singing.”
And sing he did. With a solid background in a church choir and musical theatre in college, Brian says he honed his craft for many years performing for local corporate charity events. He tells KWCUSA that as for karaoke, he “found every karaoke bar in town to fine-tune [his] boot scoot boogie.” It wasn’t long though, before he would make the decision to drop out of the corporate rat race. He quit his job as an award-winning graphics designer in California and moved to a quaint resort town in New Mexico called ‘Ruidoso.’ There he opened up a home décor and gift shop business. That major life move took him away from singing for some time but he got back on track on the New Mexico karaoke circuit by chance when he went out to a local karaoke night, sang for the first time, and was invited back to compete in a contest.
Fast-forward to KWCUSA; as a contestant in the finals, Brian was a steady, consistent, performer, but not a stand out. His tall stature, dark clothes and cowboy hat made him an imposing figure on stage but he always connected with the audience in a friendly way, no doubt a mark of his newfound southwestern roots. Always entertaining, he performed good solid country tunes like Toby Keith’s “Whose Your Daddy,” and classics like Willie Nelson’s “You Are Always on My Mind.”
Daring To Do the Unthinkable
Through two semifinal rounds he sang a total of four songs, all good enough to get him into the finals, but going forward, not necessarily spectacular enough to beat his four final competitors. Indeed, he was going up against the fearless Freddie Gallman (second place) who up to that point had probably won over the hearts and minds of many contest spectators who were wowed by the fact that he could perform so effortlessly and command the stage all while in a wheelchair and still reeling over a freshly amputated toe. Then there was the booming voice of Gary Byrd, the flawless performances of third place winner Jerry Griffin and last but not least, the omnipresence of Alex Peak, last year’s winner, who also claimed country as his specialty.
Despite these formidable competitors Brian did the unthinkable; he saved his most daring and risky performance for last. It just so happens that his gamble paid off. His strategy; put a country twist on a pop/rock classic, Elton John’s iconic “Candle in the Wind.” Why Brian would do something so experimental for his final chance to wow the judges in the finals remains a mystery, but one can only guess it was sheer confidence in the rather novel arrangement he had created. This bold move of Brian’s catapulted him to the top and now he is headed for Finland and that “big singing contest” he and his cousin so often fantasized about.
|
KWCUSA 2009 |
Click here for a recap of the KWCUSA event in Cincinnati, Ohio
 Go To the Karaoke World Championship Information Page |
 KWCUSA 2009 Finalist Profiles |
| KWCUSA 2009 Recap |
| Behind the Scenes at KWC 2008 |
| Go To the Karaoke USA National Championship Information Page |
|
Rebecca Armstrong |
