Yet another update on "getting discovered through karaoke"

As my faithful followers can attest, I am on a lifetime quest to find a famous performer who made it to the big time by being discovered singing at a karaoke bar. While I have personally heard quite a number of karaoke singers who deserve to be made rich and famous, I am still unaware of this actually happening.

Let me be clear. I am talking about someone getting up on stage at a karaoke bar where there just happens to be a talent scout. And the rest becomes history. I am not talking about someone going into a karaoke booth and recording a demo tape, like Mary J. Blige. I am not talking about someone who won a karaoke contest, like Coco Lee. And I am not talking about someone who was discovered through American Idol.

I recently posted the story of how Garrett Hedlund auditioned for the movie Country Strong by going to a karaoke bar. That's not what I am talking about.

Here is another example of what I am not talking about: Tony DeCarlo was discovered through a MySpace video. The group Boston was looking for a lead singer and they happened upon a MySpace video that Tony's daughter had posted. And the rest was history. Great story, tear jerking, even. But it's not what I am looking for.

Shana Goodman suggested another singer who might have been discovered at a karaoke joint. She posted on the LinkedIn group "Karaoke Business Matrix" that the new lead singer for Journey had been discovered that way. Initially, I passed her comment off as a confusion between Boston and Journey. Shana, I apologize! I should never have doubted you!!

I finally looked this up today. The position of lead singer for Journey has been replaced a few times. Their first lead singer was Steve Perry. He could not make one of their tours because of a hip injury that he got while hiking. Perry was replaced by Steve Augeri, who had been in a few bands before. Then Augeri developed a chronic throat infection and needed to be replaced.

Arnel Pineda was brought in as the next lead singer. He was discovered through a YouTube video of him singing Journey songs with his cover band, The Zoo.

YouTube. Not a karaoke bar. Once again, a near miss. I continue on my quest.