Karaoke Forums

I know of Mr. October who does a standup one man show singing Karaoke
Is there anyone else here that either does the same thing or would like to?

Something I've been contemplating doing for the "easy listening" type of crowds
Restaurants or lounge type area or now that summer is arriving ..maybe even some BEACH FRONT type entertaining ?

A

I've thought of it and I have seen it done once by an elvis impersonator.

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I've seen the impersonator thing too and that works , but I would be more interested in a general type thing offering more variety ..

I have done a few gigs using backing tracks only, no instruments and no "lyrics screen". Some have been a variety of music, others as a tribute show.

You mean singing to karaoke tracks yourself but not opening it up to the room? Yeah there have been a couple of guys do that in my area. Low key Eagles/Elks types of jobs geared towards dancing. One guy was pretty successful at it for awhile back about 5 years ago. I don't think either of them is at it anymore though.

To make a point that it wasn't open karaoke they both had no monitors and memorized all the lyrics. It was like a band running through sets but without the band.

Back when our club used to have live music on the weekends, there was a guy that billed himself out as a one man band. He came in with Pioneer laserkaraoke & sang to them all night. The manager fired him that night for misrepresentation as he didn't even have any instruments with him . Shortly after that they hired the company I used to work for to take over weekends for karaoke.

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I would never misrepresent myself ...So how would could you market this idea to a manager or owner ? I guess if you picked selected artists you could call it a tribute type ?

I do a one man show several times a month. I sing to Karaoke tracks, lyrics and all. I use my laptop and read the lyrics off of it. I operate my mixer and make constant adjust ments for every song.

I do a wide variety of music from Minnie the Moocher and Puttin' On The Ritz to Coldplay. Country, Oldies, Doo Wop, Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, The Drifters, The Platters, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, David Allen Coe, George Jones, Gene Watson, Bad Company, Bob Seger, Styx, Chuck Berry, Tom Jones and many, many more-hundreds of songs. I make from $100-$150 a night, but I'm just getting started. I also do some Karaoke hosting but nothing on a regular basis.

One fellow in our area does a combo show--he sings to karaoke tracks while playing guitar at the same time. Then he opens it up to karaoke at intervals throughout the show and plays his guitar along and harmonizes with the singers. Some people love it and some people hate it. Same for the singing cowboy who replaces our karaoke show once a month--he mostly sings to karaoke and pre-recorded tracks with a bit of guitar playing thrown in. The strictly karaoke singers don't like it but there is a contingent of people who want to be entertained rather than be the entertainment and they look forward to it. There is usually some comedy patter between songs.

My boyfriend's son is an aspiring singer/songwriter who wanted to do a show but didn't have a band yet. He did a 2 hour show of a combo--sang to his own guitar or keyboard, sang to backing tracks he made himself for his original compositions and sang to some karaoke tracks--and different combos of the above. Then he opened it up for karaoke after the show. It went over really well and we (my boyfriend had helped with the singing and I had bought the system) were hired on the spot for a regular show. (Then the son took off so we are doing just karaoke now.) It did take a lot of planning to pull it together into a show--couldn't just get away with bringing a bunch of discs and singing one song after the other.

We have had Elvis impersonators. and featured certain artists and played dinner music before or as a prelude to the actual karaoke show. These are used to attract and keep dinner or happy hour crowds. They are also used to promote the venue or karaoke company. Essentially some of my shows feature a few singers and entertain crowds but this can change into a typical strict karaoke format in a matter of minutes. I have never promoted a single prefomer for a whole show but thats not to say it wouldnt work

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One of the worst ever karaoke nights I went to was this sort of deal.

Don't get me wrong, if advertised well and correctly I am sure there is a market for it. But we booked a restaurant for my fiancee's birthday, that was advertised as "Meal & karaoke"...

It was NOT karaoke. It was the fat, balding, over-50 owner - wearing a frilly satin shirt and leather trousers - crooning very poorly over karaoke tracks. With the air of "I am God's gift" attempting to flirt with girls as young as 17.

It took about 3 songs to realise that he was singing, yet there were no books or request slips. So my mate asked where his books were. The guy looked at him like he's asked if he could make love to his virgin daughter, then told him "Sit down, you paid to hear me sing" (I joke you not!). So a few of us guys got up and questioned him "Why is it billed as karaoke, that's what we paid for?"

A few other tables got involved with the same ideas "We paid for meal and karaoke, not to watch some Meat Loaf wannabe". The guy rolled his eyes as if this happened every week (should have learned then huh?).

Anyhow, we demanded our money back. It was mis-sold as "karaoke" but even after all the above, karaoke was not offered. They tried to refund our drinks bill, and the girls were going to accept that, but I was personally offended by this guys treatment of my friend, and what he deemed to be "karaoke".

I pushed and offered to take this a LOT further. They eventually backed down and gave a full refund (*). We then went to my local room which had nothing on, so I put on a real karaoke show - because that's what the people wanted

(*) There is a little known law in the UK that technically you only pay for food what you deem it to be worth. It DOES and HAS stood up in court. The food was part of the overall contract, and the contract was not fulfilled - thus, I deemed the food to be worthless. It was nothing great anyhow

Now, I am not suggesting anyone here would pull such crap - but just make sure your adverts and pitch are accurate to save any issues.

By the way, a mate booked me for her 21st birthday for karaoke. It was at this venue. I tol her about it, but she said it seemed nice and was cheap so - meh. Just as obstructive then - even when she had hried the whole venue. Another story for another time, but I fail to see how some people make a living. Oh and they were still advertising "karaoke"

We have lots of people in my area that are solo performers that sing to "backing tracks/Karaoke tracks". We have lots of solo performers that play a guitar and sing, some play a keyboard and sing. We have some duos that do the same thing.

Bars and restaurants here are really cheap. They don't want to pay anything. They are trying to keep their expenses down and make a profit. Some of the busier bars and restaurants have bands, but each musician makes no more than $100-$150 a night.

There are lots and lots of American Legion, VFW, AMVETS, Eagles, Elks, Moose, country clubs, golf clubs etc. and they all have either Karaoke or some sort of entertainment at least Friday and Saturday nights. We have miles and miles of beaches with lots of hotels right on the beach. The better ones have regular entertainment usually at a bar in the back of the hotel right on the beach next to the pool. We also have quite a few senior communities and mobile home parks oriented towards seniors. Add in the restaurants and bars and there are hundreds of places to perform at.

When I do my show it's not billed as Karaoke and the same goes for other performers who sing to backing tracks.

I could see how it could be a billing problem. The shows I described were not billed as karaoke but for the singing cowboy and the other guy, you would still get people saying, "He's just doing karaoke by himself all night," when they expected a live band. But enough people like it that they get regular gigs. And they don't have to split the money with "the band." But if it had been billed as karaoke, there would really be hell to pay so what DO you call it?

In my boyfriend's son's case, the karaoke was added on the fly when he found out the owner expected 5 hours of entertainment and he only had worked up a 2 hour show. The people who had come to see him were the karaoke regulars who knew his singing from karaoke so there was no problem getting singers after his part of the night. People stayed and had a good time. Could be one way to test the waters and get it started.

I have also seen combo shows where the hosts sang the first hour and then did karaoke the rest of the night and it was billed accordingly with the hours of each stated. For the most part, the dinner crowd stayed for the hosts and then left and the karaoke people didn't show up until the actual karaoke started.

Thanks for the Mention JAM

The Owners of a karaoke show I sang at asked me to start doing a oneman show about 4 1/2 years ago. I had no intention of ever doing this, they liked the sound alike renditions I did,
So I bought some equipment and found this site and with loads of help from LONMAN and KNIGHTSHOW and many others I became more Knowledgable about how to produce a quality sounding show, Now I do Shows all over Gainesville and have a good following, Ive played in Vegas and Daytona as well, some guy at my last show wants to fly me to Ohio to do his mothers Birthday Party... Im really not that good but people like it I guess, I make good money, and also Sing at Nursing Homes which is my Favorite Gig.

I get Booked as "Entertainment By MrOctober" I use karaoke tracks and have the monitor (lcd pc monitor) on the floor out of site from the crowd and just use it as a reference, I dont just stand there and read the words, I know the songs by heart, I also change the songs I sing for each 4 hour show, I picked a woman that sings Karaoke to join in my show she sings while I take a break.
Ill start at 8pm sing about 18 songs then Janice will sing for 20 min.
the dancers love it because its non stop dancing, I sing about 45 to 50 songs each show, and at Nursing homes I do 2 hour show's by myself,

one of the reasons I think my show is working is the costumes I use and the high level of energy. People just love my 4 inch silver platform shoes and wigs, It's a fun night out for all,

there is plenty of call for a show like mine believe it or not, I turn down quite a few gig's do to the fact I have a day job also, and Now for the past year have started Hosting Karaoke as well (reluctantly).

If it werent for all of you and this site to be here and come to for advise I would have never realized the fun and money I can make just by singing and hosting Karaoke.

I think Often to my self ..... I only wish I would have started this when I was 25 instead of 45.

so if your thinking about doing a one man/woman show just do it.
On my thursday nights I draw more people than the live bands that play on other thursdays.

other benefits are
I dont have to split the take
My "band" allways shows up for practice whenever I feel like it (even at 3am)

My Venue has a Mr October style show once a month on Thursdays. The regular non-karaoke signing crowd love it

I guess this guy made a successful show out of it. Micky'll love this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIB0u2Lax-o

And just what went on around the 1:55 mark???

that is all I do...I sing either solo or duet with husband to cdg tracks

Yeah you have to be careful with wording I too usually use the word entertainment, plus I generally have a rack card or similar that explains that because the backing is pre-recorded, rather than provided by a live band, it keeps the cost down.

We stick to private gigs and the last month I have done a wedding where the wedding song was Metallica's Nothing Else Matters and I got requests for kings of leon and queensryche etc...and a 50th wedding anniversary where I had to learn put another log on the fire & home on the range

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