Legendary soul singer Smokey Robinson will serve as the first celebrity guest judge and choose the winner of the Highmark First Night Pittsburgh fifth annual Sing-Off Competition.
“Smokey loves working with kids and giving back to the community,” explained Janis Burley Wilson, vice president for Education & Community Engagement, Director of Jazz Programming. “Our theme this year is Motown because the musical ‘Motown’ will be in town at the same time. Who better to serve as the celebrity guest judge than Smokey? He is the architect of soul music. He will be choosing the winner of the contest before New Year’s Eve.”
Students in grades 6-12 affiliated with a middle or high school in Southwestern Pennsylvania, may submit a video of two songs. In keeping with this year’s theme, one of the songs must be a rendition of a Motown classic.
The student or group of singers may also select a second song of their choice to accompany their submission. Individual students or groups of 20 or less may submit a video no more than 10 minutes long via youtube, upload it and submit it with the Highmark First Night form located on the firstnightpgh.org web site. This year’s deadline for entries was Nov. 21.
“Pick a fun song, something that shows who you are. Have fun with the song,” advised last year’s sing-off competition winner, Penn Hills High School senior, Savannah Wiggins, 17, who beautifully belted out Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ for her audition. “My mom saw the competition on-line and she thought it’d be fun for me to do. We were just doing it because we are always trying to find ways for me to get experience singing and performing.”
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