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Posted November15, 2009 As expected, all three seasoned karaoke singers obeyed the first rule of karaoke; sing the song that is right for you. Denny sang Tim McGraw’s “It’s Your Love,” well within his pop-country range. McDonald sang the old R&B standard “Get Here” by Oleta Adams, which was the perfect platform to show off his soulful pipes. Weddle wowed again with “Peace of Mind” by Boston, showing once again that he can nail the messy high notes of classic rock. All three were on the top of their game. The judges; all behind-the-scenes music industry players, were calmly approving of the finalists. Hip-hop producer LA Reid surprisingly gave Denny a 10 out of 10, and songwriter Diane Warren seemed to be captivated equally by all three, despite her penchant for sparsely worded critiques. The fact that all three finalists were amateur karaoke singers seemed to make the judges somewhat reserved overall. They appeared to be a little out of their element as they watched the threesome, perhaps struggling to see them as budding artists as opposed to nerdy wannabes. The camera even caught a shot of David Foster closing his eyes and keeping his head down during Weddle’s performance; an obvious attempt to separate the singer’s rock star voice from his not-so-rocker look. After successfully singing the carefully selected songs of their own choosing, the three finalists were surprised when Oprah threw in a “wildcard showdown,” which required the three to randomly pick one of four concealed song choices that the Oprah show had identified as the four most popular karaoke songs. McDonald and Denny amazingly, drew choices that fit their styles just fine; McDonald sang “My Girl” and Denny performed the old karaoke standard “Sweet Caroline.” It was Weddle who would not be so lucky, he was forced to muddle through “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” except he didn’t muddle, instead he sang the crap out of it. L.A. Reid even informed Weddle that “[his] voice was better than the song.” The remaining two judges promptly declared him the winner of the wildcard challenge. One day and 2.5 million votes later, Oprah announced that viewers had chosen Reuben Studdard look-a-like, Abraham McDonald as the karaoke challenge winner. McDonald’s win is the highpoint in a journey that began with him pre-qualifying at Southern California local Karaoke bars and ultimately winning the 15 year old Karaoke Fest event held annually at the L.A. County Fair. He walked away with a $250,000 cash prize and a chance to record on LA Reid’s Island Def Jam label. First runner-up Denny and 2nd runner-up Weddle didn’t do bad for themselves either; going home with $100,000 and $50,000 respectively. Not bad for a bunch of karaoke singers. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 
KaraokeFest 09 Winner is Oprah's Karaoke Champ
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Oprah always has a few surprises in store for her guests and audience, and last Thursdays’ karaoke challenge finals was no different. The final three contestants; Donnie Denny, a plumber from North Carolina; Abraham McDonald, this year’s KaraokeFest 2009 winner from Los Angeles; and Rob Weddle, an out-of-work call center worker from Orlando, FL, all sang what they thought would be their final song for the championship.
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