Nick Lachey leads local contingent in musical reality show

For a seemingly warm, family-based choral competition there sure appears to be some trash talking hometown hype going on.

"I have to have the best choir. Not because I'm Patti Labelle, but because I'm from Philadelphia," says the legendary gospel/R&B singer. "When I was asked to do this NBC wonderful show I said, 'Why do it and not win?' I'm no punk. I got to win."

"Patti LaBelle's a legend, but Cincinnati has proven to be a great reality TV market and has a great musical history," says College Hill native Nick Lachey. "All of us want to go up there and do Cincinnati proud. I wouldn't have agreed to do this if I didn't want to win."

NBC's four-night reality show "Clash of the Choirs" debuts at 8 tonight. No, contrary to the rather aggressive name, choirs aren't putting on boxing gloves. But they will battle it out in a series of live performances from New York City.

The five choirs are led by celebs who returned to their hometowns, auditioned amateur singers and melded them into an instant choral ensemble.

Lachey, who first came to national notice in boy band 98 Degrees and then starred in his own reality show with then-wife Jessica Simpson, went back to his native Cincinnati. LaBelle went back to Philadelphia; The other celebrities: Michael Bolton (New Haven, Conn.); Kelly Rowland (Houston) and Blake Shelton (Oklahoma City).

The 20-member choirs will perform, compete - and be voted off by viewers at home through telephone or Internet voting. One choir will be eliminated in the Tuesday show, another Wednesday with the remaining three singing-off in Thursday's finale. "I'm hoping people will get behind our group and rally and call in to vote," said Lachey after rehearsing with his choir last week at Xavier University. "In general, it's a real cross-section of Cincinnati - from racial backgrounds to economic backgrounds - it's a great, well-rounded group of fantastic singers."

Lachey, who performed in traditional choral and jazz ensembles throughout his school days at the School For Creative and Performing Arts, said he hopes to shake up the traditional concepts of what a choir is with arrangements for his group. "I wanted my choir to be diverse. I think the songs we picked out are not from one genre of music. It's an opportunity to do any song in any style. I think you will see this challenge some people's ideas of what a choir is after the show. There will be exciting versions of songs that people don't expect."

"Today" and "Access Hollywood" correspondent Maria Menounos will host "Clash," which airs 8-10 tonight; 8-9 p.m. Tuesday; 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, then concludes Thursday from 8-9 p.m. with the naming of the "greatest choir." The winning choir gets an as-yet-undisclosed cash donation to a local charitable project. Lachey said any winnings from the Cincinnati's choir performance would benefit Children's Hospital.

The members of the Lachey led choir who list Cincinnati as their home are Ariel Underwood, Carrie Taylor, Ellen Schnier, Erin McCamley, JoRam Griffin, Kenneth Smith, Meghan Watkins, Nicholas Wall, Scott Metcalf, Shonda Fowler and Willrudale Underwood. Three are from Oxford, Ohio: Christine Ledden, Jordan Thompson and Lisa Jean Baldwin. Other members: April Hilen, Mason; John Scott, Covington; Kevin Chamberlain, Wilmington; LeShawn Tucker, Dayton; and Mary Fitzpatrick, Aurora, Ind.

Source: http://news.cincypost.com