Tyrone Lee Interview (Thriller Live)
Welcome to Impulse Gamer Tyrone and while you’re on tour with Thriller Live, will you get to see more of Australia?
As I’ve been going city to city, I’ve been trying to explore a bit and I’m not sure what I’m going to see in Melbourne but I’ll try to get out about and see what Melbourne is all about?
So Tyrone, can you tell us how you became involved in music?
In terms of singing, I began in a church and professionally I started as a backing vocalist for different pop artists in the United Kingdom where I developed the craft and business from there. One thing lead to another in terms of jobs and then I began to do my own songs and music which helped develop myself as an artist.
So growing up, what were some of your musical inspirations?
My earliest recollections were The Jackson 5 as my parents and family played this music, so I was introduced to it from an early age. After that, it was a case of listening to different singers but my main inspiration were male vocalists.
What about now Tyrone?
I still pretty much like the older music and the newer stuff is cool but as far as music that really motivates me and gets me inspired, it is more the older stuff. I find that the newer stuff these days is pretty cool but it kind of doesn’t have that longevity which is why I look to the older stuff that has an influence and power that connects with you.
So how did you become connected to Thriller Live?
I was actually recommended by a friend of mine and when the producers in the UK were given my number, they asked me to come down and meet with them to audition. So I went down to the studio and done a quick audition which didn’t went very well at all but nevertheless, they called me back again for another audition. So I went back again but this time it was to prove something to myself as the first audition wasn’t that good and then the second audition didn’t go well either.
I got to audition again, the third time now which was in front of the producers, director and the musical director and as far as I was concerned, it wasn’t a great audition and they called me a couple of days later and asked me would I be interested in doing the show. So I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought it went which was way back in 2009, so I’ve been with the show for a while now.
How long was the rehearsal process?
The rehearsal process is usually around about 4 weeks but depends on the situation.
Can you tell us a little about what Thriller Live is about?
Thriller Live is a celebration of Michael Jackson’s music and The Jackson 5. It’s not actual a storyline as such as it’s more a concert style theatre show. So we go back from the early Jackson 5 songs through his career up until the Bad album. Sometimes we go to the later albums but with this particular shows, it goes up until the Bad album. So we do like the classic hits through that era.
Besides yourself as one of the key vocalists, who else is in the show?
In this particular version of the show, there are five singers. We have a female vocalist called Prinnie Stevens (Sydney Australia), Pete Murphy (Brisbane Australia), Mig Ayesa (Sydney Australia), J Rome (New York), Wayne Robinson (London) and another female singer from Boston Massachusetts called Samantha Johnson. So at any one time, you’ll have five singers on the stage plus a bunch of amazing dancers as well.
What are your favourite songs from the production of Thriller Live?
My personal favourite is Smooth Criminal which also has great visuals. I also like Don’t Stop which is another great disco classic and then there’s the classic songs like Billie Jean and Thriller. So yeah, I have a few favourites but it’s really hard to choose one because there’s so many great songs in the show.
What’s your favourite part of the show Tyrone?
I would say the second act which is around about the Smooth Criminal part of the show which is my particular favourite. The Melbourne audience will love that because it’s like the music video when it came out with great effects and great dancing as well.
Besides Thriller Live what else have you planned for 2015?
For me personally, I’m doing quite a lot of my own shows and focusing on my new album called Invitations so that’s going to take a lot of time with promoting plus the shows. I’ve got a quite few shows lined up as I’ll do the album live in various places. I’m going to get a few shows down here in Sydney Australia and I’ve got some shows lined up in the UK and Europe. So I’ll be giving that some time and effort to give it a good promotional run as it were.
Where can our readers learn a bit more about you Tyrone?
My website is tyronelee.com which is very simple and on there you have my bio, sample snippets of the album as well as all my social media connections like Instagram and Twitter. I’ll also be posting my show dates on there as well.
Thanks again for your time Tyrone and all the best with your new album and with Thriller Live here in Melbourne.
Thanks.
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