Dayton, Ohio (May 11, 2009) – The six finalists in the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s Motown Idol contest appeared on stage, three on Friday night, May 8 and three on Saturday night, May 9. On Friday evening, Carl King, April Amissah-Aidoo, and Lindsay Nutter appeared at the beginning of the concert and performed a verse the Motown classic tune I Heard it Through the Grapevine on stage for that evening’s National City SuperPops audience with The Contours’ Music Director Glen Raby at keyboard. On Saturday evening, Abi Cook, Janel Harrington, and Brandon Harvey followed suit. The audience was provided with ballots in their program books and cast them for their favorites at intermission.
Lindsay Nutter (25, a high school relations coordinator from Springboro) was the ultimate winner of the Friday night competition, and Janel Harrington (36, a student from Xenia) was the ultimate winner of the Saturday night competition. Both performed the Motown classic tune I Heard it Through the Grapevine on stage with The Contours featuring Sylvester Potts and the full Dayton Philharmonic.
The search for these two Motown Idols started with a karaoke performance contest and party April 23 at Therapy Café, 452 East Third Street. Doors opened at 4:00 pm, and the registration to compete started at 6:00 pm with the competition starting around 8:00 pm. Dwaine Wheeler, Therapy Café’s Music Director and Nancy Sell of Nancy’s Karaoke managed the event.
DPO Music Director Neal Gittleman headed the local judging panel tasked with winnowing the evening’s 49 contestants down to 11 semi-finalists. The judges evaluated the contestants on vocal quality, presentation, and audience reaction.