Getting discovered through karaoke

A recent news article caught my attention. (from Rolling Stone, and from RTT News). It seems that Steve Tyler (lead singer with Aerosmith) was seen singing karaoke at a bar in Palm Springs, California. He apparently did not go to the bar intending to sing, but one of the groups that sang butchered a song of his so badly that he felt he had to redeem himself. He took the stage and showed the crowd how it should be done.

I don't want to get into what is going on with Steve Tyler and rehab and whether he is going to sing with Aerosmith and Aerosmith's search for a replacement for Tyler. That's all interesting stuff, but there has been plenty of news coverage on that.

Another topic I just want to mention ... the two guys that sang "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" were booed off the stage. Don't get me started on this. All I want to say is that this is poor form for the audience. Please be respectful and realize that by golly, this is karaoke.

The news item got me thinking though. Steve Tyler went from being a rock star to being a karaoke singer. Does the opposite ever happen? Do rock stars actually get discovered singing karaoke?

I had a patron once tell me that Mary J. Blige was the only rock star who had been discovered while singing karaoke. Interesting. Sounds plausible. Or could this just be urban legend? That sounds plausible, too. I googled around and found the statement to be half true. It seems that Blige didn't go to a karaoke bar, but rather she made what was essentially a demo tape in a karaoke-style booth. (See article 1 and article 2.)

I spent quite a bit of time googling and found a couple of interesting articles about discovering rock stars: how some black singers were discovered, and how some women singers were discovered.

After 37 hours of gruegling [this is a word I just coined - a combination of grueling and googling], I only found one reference that claimed a discovery through karaoke: Coco Lee. She entered a karaoke contest and was discovered. Her Wikipedia entry does not mention karaoke, however. It says that she was discovered through the "New Talent Singing Awards" in Hong Kong. I wouldn't exactly call that being discovered singing karaoke.

That begs the question. Is American Idol just a glorified karaoke contest?  I mean, most karaoke contests have a first place prize of maybe $50, or a gift certificate for the bar. I have personally given away quite a number of vintage Les Paul inflatable guitars as prizes. The only real difference with American Idol is that you win a recording contract, you are seen by millions of people, you get a real live band for backup, and Simon gets to tell you how awful you are. All that pales in comparison to the vintage inflated-with-air guitar.

If American Idol is really just a karaoke contest, then there certainly have been a number of stars discovered through karaoke.

Maybe I need to refine my question. What I really meant was more along this line: "Hey Revelator!  I got this really awesome voice. You won't believe it. Really. Trust me. Do ya think a talent scout from a major record label will just happen to stop into this place for a beer one night, hear me totally rockin' out, and then sign me up on the spot?!?!?  I dunno if I mentioned this, but my voice is fabulous."

Sadly, I'm going to have to answer "prob'ly not". I often have people tell me before they sing that they have an awesome voice. And they tell me that I gotta let them sing next because every one in the club is dying to hear them sing. So, I know that the awesome voice is not the issue. Still, it doesn't appear that people get discovered that way. So, maybe the talent scouts from major record labels don't visit karaoke bars? Or maybe these talent scouts just quietly sip their beers and leave, oblivious of the major talent that they are missing out on?

I dunno the answer to this. But I would like to hear if anyone knows of another singer/rock star/recording artist who was discovered while singing karaoke.

John the Revelator