I’ll admit that occasionally I do things to amuse myself and this story falls under that category. Anyway, when the kids were in school full time, I started considering alternatives to cleaning the house all day and decided to look for a part-time job to earn some spending money and get out in the community. Not long after, I found a job in our local school district tutoring academically at-risk kids.
When we moved out of state however, I had to start looking again for another job without any local connections or references. The thought was also in the back of my mind that it might be fun to try something different and with curiosity as to what might be available I started scanning the Craigslist help wanted ads.
Let’s see…becoming a surrogate mother offered decent pay I guess, but…No.
Receptionist, accountant, appointment setter, liquor and wine sales, vague guaranteed outrageous income while working at home…No.
Pet sitting, nanny, custodian, line cook…isn’t that essentially what I’ve been doing for the past 15 years?
Sign waver…hmm, stand on a street corner in a ridiculous outfit, advertising a local business…No.
Then an ad caught my attention… Seeking mature female vocalist to sing oldies but goodies.
Singing? I could do that, I’m pretty good at harmonizing and I would be a decent backup singer.
Oldies but goodies? No problem, I’ve sung oldies for years.
Female? Ta-da!
My query was as follows…I’m interested and curious about your posting on craigslist for a mature female vocalist. Does mature mean over a certain age? I’m in my mid-40’s, am a strong Alto and have been singing in large and small groups for years. If you are still seeking an addition to your group please let me know how you would like me to apply and any other relevant information.
And what do you know, I got an audition the next day!
Except, I’ve never auditioned before.
‘Singing with large and small groups for years’ meaning goofing around singing with my sisters as we were growing up (small group) and high school Jazz choir, college beginner choir and church choirs (large groups). Nothing professional and never the lead singer. WHAT WAS I THINKING!
Still I was intrigued, and highly amused to think of myself in a professional singing group, in fact I was laughing the whole way to the audition at Gary’s house. O.k. so maybe I’m a little naive, I didn’t know anything about these people and I was trusting that they were legitimate? But it seemed like a normal house in a normal neighborhood and when Gary — caucasian, grey haired, about my height and in his mid 60’s — answered the door and shook my hand, the whole experience was so beyond the realm of possibilities I had imagined for myself, I laughingly figured I had nothing to lose and walked in to give it a try.
Gary then introduced me to Fred — Black American, mid 70’s and an original member of the DelVikings touring group (dum, dum, dum, dum dum, dum be doobie dum, wah wah wah waaah!). What Gary and Fred were trying to put together was a group with two men and two women to put on a great show with lights, actions and professional sound to perform for hire locally at country clubs, restaurants, parties, bars etc.
Gary had originally been performing with a woman and they called themselves ‘Double Trouble’. When they added another woman to the group they called themselves ‘Triple Play’ and now they were adding Fred and wanted a replacement female so they were going to call themselves (wait for it…) ‘4Play’. Inwardly I cringed, No! You can’t be serious?! But I was able to pause long enough to gather my cool before I answered that yes, it was a provocative name and was sure to get attention.
We went into the basement studio where a karaoke machine was set up and Gary explained what they had in mind. Each of the 4 would take turns being the lead singer and the others would be backup, and he gave me a list to choose the songs for which I would sing lead. Sing lead!?! Um, remember, I’m a backup singer?
With trepidation I scanned the list and picked out some songs with which I was familiar and they handed me the mic to sing… Walkin’ After Midnight by Patsy Cline, Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benetar, Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue by Crystal Gayle and Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by The Shirelles. Then they wanted to see how I did with a duet and I tried out Always by Atlantic Starr with Fred and At This Moment by Billy Vera & the Beaters with Gary and of course I had to be able to sing harmony on the Fred’s signature song, Come Go With Me by the DelVikings.
Singing in a basement, no problem, but getting comfortable on the ‘wood’ (as Fred explained was the professional lingo for the stage) could be a whole different adventure. Considering my lack of experience and knowing that they had more women to audition, I expected and was given a thank you for auditioning and we’ll let you know.
When the phone rang the following day and Gary asked if I would be able to practice 3 or 4 times that week to prepare for a performance on the day after Thanksgiving at a local country club restaurant, my brain went into overdrive… Could I do this? How will I learn the songs in time? My mother-in-law would be in town for Thanksgiving, what would she think? What will I wear? Are they serious?
I made my Thanksgiving menu and shopping list, picked up my mother-in-law from the airport, searched my closet for an outfit to wear, bought some dangly earrings, downloaded the songs I needed to learn onto my iPhone so I could practice when I was alone (no way is anyone going to see this!) and promptly got a sore throat and sniffles. Still we practiced up to the day before Thanksgiving and I was pretty good at following the MoTown moves Fred was teaching us…the Temptations slide, the two step, the snapping fingers and the arms swinging back and forth in time to the music.
Then Thanksgiving dinner was cooked, devoured and cleaned up and the following day was my debut and trial by fire. I drove to the country club, parked the car, practiced my songs again, took a deep breath, laughed out loud and walked inside alone since I had forbidden anyone to come to the venue, and there I was on the sign… Welcoming 4Play and Special Guest (that’s me).
The stage was set up at the end of the hall and we had a table in the corner for breaks. My voice was scratchy and I was trying to soothe it with the honey & lemon cough drops Fred gave me and sipping water to reduce coughing. Still I was feeling pretty good, partly nervous and fairly excited. I knew the routine as well as possible given I’d only had 4 practices. The words would be scrolling on the karaoke screen by the middle mic so I didn’t need to have them memorized. Gary would be on the far left, then Ginger (whom I met for the first time that night – a pro), me and Fred on the far right. Our sound guy did a mic check, I was introduced to some of the regulars (my jury) and then it was time to start the show. Like I said, I’m a great backup singer, I had the moves down and was able to copy Fred fairly easily, I could sing the harmony and remember when to come in etc. Fred assured me that I would get more comfortable on the wood with time. He had been performing professionally since he was 17 years old and his confidence in me boosted my own confidence and for that night I was just there to have fun and earn some money.
What I wasn’t prepared for happened right before our break. People were dancing and enjoying the show, dining at the tables, drinking at the bar and I noticed one younger guy that was rather attractive from a distance. I had just finished singing Always, in a duet with Fred (needed to work on my romantical stage persona) when a girl came up to me, grabbed my hand and danced me out onto the dance floor. WHAT?!? Did she want me to dance with her? Was this some sort of weird come-on? Was I supposed to leave the group? Would Gary get mad? I didn’t know what to think and just decided to go with it, the customer is always right. Right? But she didn’t want to dance, she led me over to the bar to introduce me to Mr. Attractive. “You two are both so good looking, I thought you should meet” she said, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Mr. Attractive from a distance was Mr. Drunk up close and I almost doubled over with laughter when he asked me if I might want to ‘go to his place and sing a duet sometime’ (the worst pickup line ever delivered to me!) I couldn’t quite convince him that I was married and had 4 children at home (since I hadn’t been wearing my wedding ring because I had yet to get it resized). He was throwing every awful pickup line in the book at me and I only had 20 minutes for my break so I smiled as charmingly as I could and made my escape. Eventually we finished the show, I received my pay and Gary asked if I would be willing to be a backup for when either of the ‘official’ girls in the group were not available for a performance. We would have to practice regularly to make it a good show, but I could earn a little cash occasionally. “Sure” I replied and said my goodbyes with a Whew! I survived, deep exhale.
Frankly, I figured they were going to get their act together and I wouldn’t hear from them for a while and then after the holidays we might meet and practice occasionally so I could be the backup backup singer. But after Christmas in the middle of a thrift store in Arizona (see my other blog, Wear It Out Sister… ) my phone rang, and Gary asked if I would be able to help out with a performance on New Year’s Day since the new girl had another gig. He said it wouldn’t be as big an audience as the last performance (which was about 50 people max) since New Year’s Eve was usually the big show, but I would really be doing them a favor if I could help out. How could I say no? So again we had a couple of practices and maybe it was nerves or too much practice (no probably not that) but the sore throat and scratchy voice was back. Still, the show must go on eh? This time no drunks, no voice (lets face it, even with my voice I am no Patsy Cline) and no cash from the cash machine to get paid. Gary asked if I could come to his house the next day to practice and he would give me the cash then and we would work on the show. We agreed to meet at 1PM.
When I arrived he asked me to sit on the couch. Fred and Ginger weren’t there yet and he went to get my pay. He said that Fred wouldn’t be coming to practice, then he thanked me for helping out and said that they were going to go in a different direction and couldn’t really wait for me to get comfortable singing the lead. He said that Fred thought I was doing fine and would soon be at ease on the wood but that Gary needed to get a group up and running quickly to start lining up shows and make some money. I was a little slow on the draw. So we’re not practicing today? Did I just get fired?!
Overall I was pretty relieved to not have to worry about practicing and evening performances and stage presence etc. and I said I understood. But it chaffed me when he suggested that I might want to take voice lessons, (wait, I only had two performances and I was sick for both and I only had four practices before being thrown in front of a crowd and wasn’t I trying to do this to earn money, not spend it?). Then he handed me the cash, I wished them well and we parted ways.
Later, Gary sent an e-mail with an update on the group, the girls were out, they had added another gentleman singer and a drummer and guitar player and they were now going to call themselves ‘Magic Moments’ (oh yes, a much better name). You can check out a video here…
Gary is on the far right without glasses and Fred is in the middle. So, there you have it, my days (count them = 2) as a lounge singer. Despite the fact that I got fired (or was I ever really hired?) I can say that I was one of the original members of 4Play and can check ‘be a lounge singer’ off my bucket list, and believe me, that’s a relief!
