Just want to sing — but $100,000 prize is nice, too

Melody Forrester had stopped singing to focus on her career.

She took a job at Boys Town as an assistant family teacher so she could focus on her goal of being a mentor to young girls.

But the 21-year-old Omaha woman had been singing in some form for most of her life. And she realized she didn’t want to stop.

Forrester and six other locals have found a pretty good way to keep their vocal cords in shape. They’ve formed a group called Solo that will be one of eight a cappella groups on the NBC singing competition “The Sing-Off,” which airs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and again Dec. 21. The winner gets $100,000 and a record contract.

Forrester had been talking with other local singers she knew about putting together a band, so they could sing during weekends and evenings. While on the Internet, she noticed an audition call for the NBC show. She saw it as a sign.

“God sent me that pop-up ad,” she said. “I knew I had to do this.”

So Forrester rounded up the best Omaha singers she could find: Michael Lawson, 22; Brenton Donaldson, 19; Justin Blackson, 21; Katharine Myers, 21; LeChloe Drake, 21; and Maurice Patterson, 23.

Many had to work around tough living situations and busy work schedules to find time to sing.

Some but never all members of Solo were able to find time to get together for practice from midnight to 2 a.m. a few times in Omaha. Their only full-blown rehearsal was in Chicago before their August audition.

They walked the streets of the Windy City, trying to put together a three-minute medley for the show’s producers. They got a few weird looks from passersby as they harmonized on the sidewalk.

They then went into the audition and belted it out. The judges were impressed and asked them to sing another song.

“We told them we didn’t have another song, that we’d only been together for a few days,” Forrester said.

The judges figured the group had enough talent and put the group on the show. The members flew to Los Angeles in late November to rehearse and film. They’ll appear at least on Monday’s show, when judges will eliminate some groups at the end of the two-hour program. The show begins at 7 p.m. CST. It’s the same process Tuesday. After Wednesday’s show, viewers will vote for the group they like best. The winner will be revealed during a live show Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

Some widely known names have roles on the show. Former 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey hosts. Musicians Ben Folds and Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men are regular judges. The show also will have a rotating group of celebrity judges.

Forrester auditioned for “American Idol” producers and made it past the first round. She sang for high-ranking producers but was eventually cut. She went by her given name Kerri then, but now uses her stage name Melody.

Forrester is taking a break from her job for the filming of this show. She’s having trouble believing she and her other group members are going to perform on such a big stage for such a large prize.

“This is surreal,” she said. “But we just want to sing. It doesn’t matter if the prize was a poodle and a can of beans, we’d still be doing it because we want to sing.”

Contact the writer:

444-1220, dane.stickney@owh.com

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