USC Vocalists Make Finals in NBC Sing-Off

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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<p>NBC's hit show, The Sing-Off, is down to their finalists. Next Monday the winner of the $100,000 prize and Sony recording contract will be announced.</p>

<p>One of the finalist groups is Backbeats, a group composed of almost all USC students/recent alumni The a cappella singers do their own arrangements and choreography. Final judging will be by viewer voting.</p>

<p>Videos of their performances can be accessed at TV</a> Network for Primetime, Daytime and Late Night Television Shows - NBC Official Site . Here is the number to vote for Backbeats: 877 674 6403. Check the website for voting rules. Each e-mail address may record ten votes.</p>

<p>Trojan a cappella singers are: Catherine Ricafort, '09, Todd Levin, '09, Eitan Nir, '10, Rachel Saltzman, '11 and Thomas Henry, '12. Organizers are Kenton Chen, a vocal jazz major '10 and Kelley Jakie, '11.</p>

<p>Chen remarked, "We took a lot of the training that we got from being at USC and from being in different a cappella groups. The training through the USC Thornton School of Music is a lot of what I drew from too."</p>

<p>The final show of Sing-Off will be the evening of Dec. 20th.</p>

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<p>^^ I’ve been rooting for the Backbeats all along! I read where NBC has just extended the final show by a half hour. So it will be 2½ hours long. Go Backbeats!</p>

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<p>Kenton was one of the Orientation Advisers this year. He’s so nice and so talented!</p>

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<p>I know Kenton Chen. He went to my high school and was very popular among the performing arts department and the students. We never talked because we were in different choirs (I was in the women’s chorus and he was in the mixed chorus. By the time I got into the mix chorus as a junior, he’d already graduated), but he was incredibly well-known around school.</p>