Karaoke Wishes, Contract Dreams

Courtesy Abraham McDonald

Singer Abraham McDonald won the Oprah Show Karaoke Challenge and soon thereafter signed a record deal with Island Def Jam Music Group.

by Natalie Collier
July 28, 2010

Ever dreamed of getting up to sing the karaoke track you’re known for—“‘I Will Survive’ as performed by Gloria Gaynor,” perhaps—and in the audience sat a record producer looking for fresh talent? After you’re done singing, he walks up to you and exclaims he hasn’t heard a voice like yours in decades and everyone across the country deserves to hear your talent—nay, your gift.

Before you know it, you’re in a studio in L.A. or New York City (whichever is the city of your recording dreams), sipping warm water with lemon, an all-star team of producers surrounding you, listening to a playback of a track written specifically you by the Diane Warren.

Change a detail here or there, and that’s the story of Dallas, Texas, native, L.A. suburb-reared Abraham McDonald, the winner of the Oprah Show Karaoke Challenge last year. After belting out Oleta Adams’ “Get Here” and trumping his two competitors, the silky-voiced McDonald walked away with a $250,000 cash prize and within a few months had signed an exclusive contract with Island Def Jam Music Group. He is one of the few who has gone from relative karaoke obscurity to a major recording deal, with his appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

“Winning Oprah’s first karaoke challenge has been amazing. From the experiences of singing places I’ve always dreamed of singing and meeting people I’ve always wanted to meet to finally getting out of that apartment! ... I got my own tree, y’all!” McDonald said in April on an Oprah follow-up show.

That’s not all he has. McDonald’s first single, “Miracles,” released the week he appeared on the follow-up show, at its highest sat at No. 34 on the Urban AC chart and is the lead single for his debut album, scheduled to hit store shelves Sept. 14. Not bad for someone who went from having no national name recognition to live performances at the House of Blues Los Angeles and is prepping for an 18-city Budweiser Superfest Tour with R&B notables like Anthony Hamilton, Kem, Jaheim and Raheem DeVaughn.

Whether you aspire to national recording contract heights or something else, since his boyhood dream of singing materialized, McDonald has admonished his audiences repeatedly to live their best lives, saying: “Continue to dream. Push your dreams as if they’re as light as a feather. ... When you get tired ... there’s always someone to the right of you, in another lane, (who’s) not as tired as you are. So if you quit, they’re going to get what was for you.”

Take a road trip up to Memphis and see the Budweiser Superfest Tour Aug. 22 at the Desoto Center or catch it at the New Orleans Arena Sept. 3. Visit http://www.livenation.com for tickets.

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