Backup singer Beverley Staunton dishes about 'DWTS'
_large.png)
11/15/2011
If you were paying close attention to last night's Dancing With the Stars, you caught a glimpse of Beverley Staunton. For six years, she has been part of the Dancing With the Stars family, singing the show's bouncy theme song with three other pros.
"What's really funny is that a lot of people miss it, because it goes by so fast," she tells Lifeline Live. "Because it is a dancing show, people don't think about the music."
More: Who's going home next?
But don't call her a backup singer. "We're not just backup singers, we're the principal singers on the show," she clarifies, adding that it's "probably the best gig I've ever had."
And now Staunton, 36, has just released her first solo CD, Everything Changes (available on iTunes). She's French-Canadian and often gets assigned songs in foreign languages, but she sings all styles. Although last season she sang opera on one episode and in Season 5 she took the stage to sing when Gloria Estefan dropped out at the last minute, her new CD is country pop. It's a job requirement that the Dancing singers are versatile. "Every week is different and it can be challenging," she says. But that's also what she loves about it. "It's been a pretty awesome ride."
Her schedule isn't bad either. The Dancing crew works two days a week. Monday is "the more grueling day," she says. They start at 7:30 a.m. with a quick vocal rehearsal (they get the music right after Tuesday's results show) and then rehearse with each couple, but only for about 10 minutes each. Then there's a lunch break, dress rehearsal and the show. Tuesdays are a little easier and, she says, the dancers and celebs are "far more relaxed."
She and the other singers and musicians "try to guess" who'll be going home. "After this many seasons, we have our strategy. It's not always based on the dance. It's on fan base, which is cool."
Her favorite celeb?
"One star - Donny Osmond - comes to mind," she says. "I think because he is a singer and dancer. He would come over to us to chat and hang out. I think probably because over where we are is more his comfort zone. He was very friendly and open. And I think having a live orchestra for him was very exciting to him."
As for this season? "My money is on J.R. He is just amazing."
As for Tom Bergeron, Brooke Burke-Charvet and musical director Harold Wheeler and her fellow musicians and singers, she has nothing but nice things to say. "Brooke and Tom are great," she says. And the musicians "are all A-list players - they play on the biggest movies in town."
But there are "no big egos," she says. Not even Maks Chmerkovskiy, says Staunton. "I think there are times the frustration sets in. I think the critiques from the judges can get to them."
So does that DWTS theme song run through her head 24/7?
"Thankfully, it doesn't," says Staunton, who is married to a fireman and has two young children and spends the rest of her week singing at other gigs. "It might now that we're talking about it." She adds, "There is constantly music running through my head, but not that."
"What's really funny is that a lot of people miss it, because it goes by so fast," she tells Lifeline Live. "Because it is a dancing show, people don't think about the music."
More: Who's going home next?
But don't call her a backup singer. "We're not just backup singers, we're the principal singers on the show," she clarifies, adding that it's "probably the best gig I've ever had."
And now Staunton, 36, has just released her first solo CD, Everything Changes (available on iTunes). She's French-Canadian and often gets assigned songs in foreign languages, but she sings all styles. Although last season she sang opera on one episode and in Season 5 she took the stage to sing when Gloria Estefan dropped out at the last minute, her new CD is country pop. It's a job requirement that the Dancing singers are versatile. "Every week is different and it can be challenging," she says. But that's also what she loves about it. "It's been a pretty awesome ride."
Her schedule isn't bad either. The Dancing crew works two days a week. Monday is "the more grueling day," she says. They start at 7:30 a.m. with a quick vocal rehearsal (they get the music right after Tuesday's results show) and then rehearse with each couple, but only for about 10 minutes each. Then there's a lunch break, dress rehearsal and the show. Tuesdays are a little easier and, she says, the dancers and celebs are "far more relaxed."
She and the other singers and musicians "try to guess" who'll be going home. "After this many seasons, we have our strategy. It's not always based on the dance. It's on fan base, which is cool."
Her favorite celeb?
"One star - Donny Osmond - comes to mind," she says. "I think because he is a singer and dancer. He would come over to us to chat and hang out. I think probably because over where we are is more his comfort zone. He was very friendly and open. And I think having a live orchestra for him was very exciting to him."
As for this season? "My money is on J.R. He is just amazing."
As for Tom Bergeron, Brooke Burke-Charvet and musical director Harold Wheeler and her fellow musicians and singers, she has nothing but nice things to say. "Brooke and Tom are great," she says. And the musicians "are all A-list players - they play on the biggest movies in town."
But there are "no big egos," she says. Not even Maks Chmerkovskiy, says Staunton. "I think there are times the frustration sets in. I think the critiques from the judges can get to them."
So does that DWTS theme song run through her head 24/7?
"Thankfully, it doesn't," says Staunton, who is married to a fireman and has two young children and spends the rest of her week singing at other gigs. "It might now that we're talking about it." She adds, "There is constantly music running through my head, but not that."
