Exclusive: Major news on "Celebrity Duets," Featuring comments from Simon Cowell
Submitted by Brian Cantor on Wednesday, August 23, 2006 at 2:57 AM EST





ARTICLE ORIGINALLY AND EXCLUSIVELY PUBLISHED BY BRIAN CANTOR

A selling point of shows like "Dancing With The Stars" and "Skating With Celebrities" is the opportunity for comedy as celebrities struggle to master a new skill. It seems that for every viewer interested in seeing celebrities succeed in an area outside their comfort zone, there is another viewer hoping the stars humiliate themselves on national television.

But "Celebrity Duets," FOX's new show from executive producer Simon Cowell, is banking on the fact that enough viewers truly do want to see established celebrities conquer another realm of the entertainment world.

According to Cowell, the eight celebrities competing on the show—Carly Patterson, Alfonso Ribiero, Lucy Lawless, Lea Thompson, Jai Rodriguez, Chris Jericho, Hal Sparks and Cheech Marin—had to survive multiple auditions, albeit not in front of the brutally honest "Idol" judge, to prove they truly have the potential to excel vocally.

"Every one of these people genuinely believes they have a great singing voice," Cowell told reporters in a conference call this week. "They all think they can win. They all think they’re going to probably have big, successful recording careers at the end."

He added, "No one was booked for comedy value. Now it could all go wrong, but the intention was that any of them could win this competition."

Nonetheless, Cowell believes a few singers will emerge as early favorites.

"I’m not going to say which ones I think are the best now because I think that’s the fun for the audience," he said. "But, for me, from what I’ve heard, there are two or three people who can win. They’ve been taking vocal lessons. They’ve been practicing for weeks."

The desire to feature capable singers allowed celebrities with some background in music to remain eligible for the show. Wrestler Chris Jericho, for instance, fronts the metal band Fozzy, and other contestants have performed musical on Broadway.

The only guideline, according to Cowell, was that the celebrity's primary claim to fame needed to be non-musical.

"It helped in a way that they’ve had some experience because, as I said, the most important reason for booking them was they had to be good. But I wanted them to be known primarily for something else," said Cowell.

The show, which premieres on August 29, features the celebrities performing duets with music industry all-stars, including such names as Patti LaBelle, Dennis DeYoung, Kenny Loggins, Gladys Knight, Michael Bolton, Brian McKnight, Chaka Khan, Smokey Robinson and Aaron Neville.

To add an element of surprise to the show, each contestant will perform the first ten or fifteen seconds of the song choice on his or her own. The professional singer—known to the performers but not to the audience—will then enter for the duet (the celebrity will be partnered with a different singer each week).

Cowell believes the pressure of working with an established music name is the show's most challenging element.

"I think the point when you’re on stage and you’ve started a song and then you look behind you and on walks Gladys Knight; I mean that’s a scary moment," he said.

Despite the nerve-wracking nature of that performance dynamic, Cowell felt the show could only be successful with legitimate music sensations as the "pros."

"To make it work, we would have to bring in legendary artists," said Cowell. "You couldn’t team up a celebrity with a vocal coach. It just wouldn’t work."

Similar to "American Idol," a panel of judges will evaluate the performances to assist viewers in voting for the best performances. David Foster, Little Richard and Marie Osmond will assume the duties.

Simon explained the panel (which, at the time of the interview, only consisted of Foster and Richard), "We always wanted David Foster as our main judge, mainly because he is probably the most successful producer in America."

He added, "I genuinely am interested in Little Richard for some reason, and I think it’s going to be quite an interesting dynamic between him and David because David is very serious...Little Richard is probably a bit more unpredictable, so who knows what could happen?"

"Celebrity Duets," hosted by Wayne Brady, kicks off with a two-hour premiere at 8PM EST next Tuesday (August 29).

**EXCLUSIVE** - Photo Gallery Of The "Celebrity Duets" Contestants, Featuring Jericho, Lucy Lawless, Alfonso Ribiero & More In Photos For The Show + **BATISTA DATING A DIVA SEARCH CONTESTANT?**, More Inside News On Kurt Angle's ECW Status (>>)








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