Karaoke Equipment & Supplies

‘So, you want to be a professional singer?’

Hi! 

First of all, thanks for dropping by and choosing my article today. I hope you will find at least some of it useful and maybe even inspirational. If you are new to the idea of working as a professional singer then you should find much of this article informative and of benefit to your aspirations to sing professionally. Even if you are an ‘old pro’ I hope that you will enjoy reading this article and maybe you will feel inclined to leave a message or send some comments to me by e-mail? Ideas on the subject of singing professionally would be much appreciated and I will pass on your best ideas and advice via these articles.

So, who the heck do I think I am to be offering you advice? There are plenty of shysters and sales-motivated publishers out there on the net and I wouldn’t blame you at all if you were thinking that my motives for placing this article are purely selfish? Maybe I’m trying to sell you some training course or other or want you to sign up to my distribution list? Don’t worry, my motivation for publishing this text is almost free of personal interest. Almost! 

Well, to be honest, I do hope that placing these articles will benefit my website ratings, but I also hope that there will be a mutual benefit for your investment of time and energy, so we both should do ok out of this!

Anyway, down to business. 

In this first article, I want to briefly set out my own experience of development as a successful professional singer ( I now make my living completely from professional singing ). In future articles I would also like to set out a series of subjects for you to consider, such as the type or ‘genre’ of singing you aspire to? The type of equipment you may need, whether or not you need vocal coaching, approaching an entertainment agency, working with entertainment venues, private bookings etc…..

The list is long, but all the subjects are extremely relevant to your progress as a singer ( and dare I say ‘entertainer’ ). As with all things in life, the more you put into the subject, the more you will get out of it. 

Oh and one very important point. I have found that by regularly talking to people who are thriving in the industry and picking out all the positive leads and advice they can offer you, this will save you hours and hours of trial and error, plus hundreds or even thousands of pounds of wasted expense through purchasing the wrong equipment or the wrong agency etc. Spend a few hours studying these articles and save yourself many weeks or months of frustration and unnecessary expense due to rushing ahead and making mistakes that you can easily avoid with a little thought and patience!

So who am I?

If you want to skip this section, please feel free to do so! I think it would be beneficial to know something about me, the ‘author’, but it isn’t essential. I don’t have a huge ego and I won’t be upset if you aren’t interested in my background, honestly!

However, reading this section will help you to see where I’m coming from in my articles and it will set out the limitations of my experience and qualifications to advise you. Always useful information in my experience. 

My name is Ian Anthony and I am a white male, in my mid-forties, based in Lancashire, England. If you are a young and aspiring singer, don’t let my great age put you off. Most of the concepts and demands of professional singing remain constant and my advice will still be relevant to you. 

I work as a full time professional Tom Jones Tribute Artist and have done so for about 11 years. 

Although I have many years of experience as a presenter on varied subjects, I did not know that I could sing to any decent standard until about twelve years ago. I first realised I could sing and entertain when I was together with my friends and family in a restaurant, enjoying a meal together. The place was new to me and I was pleasantly surprised when a man walked into the entertainment area and began setting up some speakers and lighting. He told us that he was going to run some ‘karaoke’ but not to be put off as there would be some good quality singers coming in to entertain us all. 

He was absolutely right because as soon as the session started, a procession of singers got up to do their bit, and we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the singing and the variety of songs they covered. I later found out that some of the singers were semi-pro and many were at least trained and gifted amateurs who regularly came into the venue and took part in what to me and my friends was a ‘concert’ which we were really enjoying. 

Then the karaoke jockey said “ o.k. we have a guy who is going to sing one of my favourite numbers, ‘Kiss’ by Tom Jones. Introducing ‘Ian’ ! 

I looked around for the other guy with the same name as me who was going to sing next, when I noticed that my teenage daughter was giggling, together with my wife and the others in my party. Yes, they thought it would be really funny to put my name into the singers list and see how I did as a karaoke ‘virgin’!

After being coaxed out onto the stage and into the lights, I quietly told the DJ that I didn’t have a clue what to do next and that I had never sung in public before. He calmly told me to listen for the music, read the words from the screen and just ‘do your best’!

It’s difficult to read, sing, listen and entertain when there is a roar of adrenalin in your ears and your knees are knocking! 

Fortunately I decided to just go for it and do the best impression of Tom Jones that I could. I couldn’t see much through the stage lights, but I could hear people clapping along and shouting encouragement, but, when the music stopped, there was a very long two seconds of silence! Then everyone started to clap and I was pulled back into my seat, sweating and shaking!

Apparently I had done very well for a first timer and the DJ said I should work on my impression of Tom Jones as I was apparently ‘a bit of a natural’.

After quite a few more karaoke nights and a lot of advice from the other singers at the venue, I decided to take things further and put together a Tom Jones Tribute show! I researched any video I could find relating to Tom Jones, studied articles about him, looked at established Tribute Artists and their interpretation of T.J. and generally immersed myself in the subject. I looked around for good quality backing tracks to practise to, searched the internet for lyrics, sang regularly over many weeks and practised the delivery of the songs, the dance moves, the timings and an endless list of other considerations.

Eventually I had about ten songs which I was reasonably confident to deliver. I had borrowed sound equipment and bought some of my own. I had a good pal who was equally interested in developing the sound and lighting aspect of the show and we had transport. 

We were on the way! Since these humble beginnings I have progressed to presenting a highly respected and very popular Tom Jones Tribute show, with a list of top venues and customers to my credit. I am on the books of most of the top agencies in the country and I have my own website, which provides over half of my work! I am first or second place in a search for ‘Tom Jones Tribute’ or ‘Tom Jones impersonator’ on Google and I have worked with audiences from 50 ( private birthday celebrations )  to 48,000 at packed International Football and Rugby venues. My voice is acknowledged as one of the best Tom Jones sound-alikes in the world and I take my self-contained show all over the UK and abroad. I have worked with live bands, other top flight Tribute artists and entertainers, and also tried to put back something by way of supporting charity events over the years. 

So, that is a very,very brief synopsis of me as a professional singer. There is a huge volume of detail around this story, but I won’t bore you with it all in one go! As promised, I’ll be writing other articles on the subject of sound and lighting equipment, meeting an agent, how to prepare a show from scratch and other subjects that I hope you will find really interesting and useful. 

Just remember, as you develop yourself as a singer and entertainer, you are entering the second oldest profession in the world! There is a wealth of experience and information that you can draw on and also some fantastic experiences await you as you put yourself out there! Maybe it’s the fame, maybe it’s the money, maybe you just want to enjoy the experience of singing to an appreciative audience? Whatever your motivation, my advice is to work hard, work smart, and be kind, respectful and honest to yourself and others. Oh, and try to enjoy it to. Life is too short! 

Happy singing and hope to meet up with you again very soon!

Kind regards,

Ian Anthony – The Premier Tom Jones Tribute Artist!

If you would like to see more about my work, please visit my site at http://www.iananthony.com or drop me a line at info@iananthony.com I’d really like to hear from you!

About the Author

Endless night (instrumental/karaoke)

Yoostar Entertainment System $31.99 Yoostar is the revolutionary new entertainment system that lets YOO star in scenes from movies, TV shows and NBA games — and share those scenes with family, friends and everyone. The Yoostar Entertainment System gives you everything you need to turn your home into a movie studio — studio-grade web cam, portable green screen and stand, wireless remote, Yoostar software for your PC (Mac version co…

Richard Marx – Greatest Hits $4.74 MARX RICHARD GREATEST HITS…

Songs from The Lion King (accompaniment CD) [Karaoke] $21.61 All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed….