Jonny Wright

Feature Article

TV “IDOL MAKER” JOHNNY WRIGHT

LOOKS FOR NEW “GIFTED” SINGERS

by Sarah G. Lounges

Last month I had the opportunity to audition for “Gifted”, which is a Christian talent competition that held auditions in several churches across the nation.

The competition is the brainchild of renowned music manager Johnny Wright. “Gifted” will broadcast as a two-hour special on the Trinity Broadcasting Network in March and will feature 8 finalists chosen from the preliminary rounds.

The winner of the event will receive a recording contract with a major record label, a $10,000 dollar donation to the church where they auditioned and management by Wright Entertainment Group.

While at The Family Christian Center in Munster, Indiana for the audition, I had the chance to sit and talk to Johnny Wright about “Gifted”, his career and his effect on the music business.

Wright is a self-proclaimed “church kid”. His father was a Deacon and his mother an organist. When asked why he chose to be involved with “Gifted” he said that these beginnings helped led him to it.

He feels as though he had been prepared by God to do this, to bring positive music to the forfront of the music scene.

Wright wants to see Christian music become as popular as any other form of music out there today and felt the best way to find the right talent for the competition was to go straight to the source – the church.

He also felt this was a way for people to be more comfortable when they audition.

In his career, Johnny Wright has worked with some of the biggest acts in the business in recent years.

He brought The New Kids on the Block, Britney Spears, NSYNC and Backstreet Boys to the public eye, along with several other artists.

We spoke of a few of the defining moments of his amazing career.

“The first time I heard the New Kids on the Block on the radio is something I’ll never forget,” he said of his first success at breaking a group into the big leagues. And they didn’t get any bigger than NKOTB, who ignited a national frenzy among teens when they first came out.

Wright said it was amazing how these kids from Boston made their stamp on the world.

Other memorable moments were when NSYNC jumped the Backstreet Boys on the chart in four weeks, landing in the #2 slot whereas the Backstreet Boys were at # 4; and also having the Backstreet Boys leave his management and return again.

In his past, Johnny has been involved in several things to help others. He shared the story of when he was around the age of 19, how he and four friends roller-skated to Cape Cod, Massachusetts for muscular dystrophy.

The trip resulted in him getting hit by a truck, but he doesn’t regret it. He also told me of the charity NSYNC runs and the one Justin Timberlake does to raise money for music in schools.

Getting back on the subject of “Gifted”, they are looking for someone with good vocals, someone who can make a song their own and who, above all, is singing for the Lord.

When I asked Wright what advice he had for those in the competition he smiled – “Say a prayer, because without a prayer you don’t have a prayer.”

More information available online at: www.giftedtalentsearch.com

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