Michelle Williams & Deitrick Haddon star in Oxygen's "Fix My Choir"
- vannacollins
- Oct 23, 2014
- 3 min read
I had the pleasure of joining a conference call with former Destiny’s Child member/Grammy Winner- Michelle Williams and recording artist Deitrick Haddon ("Preachers of L.A.") whose gospel albums have hit Billboard's Top Ten. What brings these two together you ask? Their new show to hit Oxygen November 5th titled “Fix My Choir” (sings tune- and yes, I sound like Michelle haha). It follows the gospel stars to different cities like LA and New Orleans where they take about five days to “fix” choirs. One reason I’m excited to see this show is based on the brother and sister like chemistry. Between answering questions the two took shots at one another. When asked about their chemistry Deitrick jokingly says “Michelle gets on my nerves, the chemistry is forced and so fake”. [Seriously] “It’s been a blast…what you see on the show is pure fun.” “We have a great balance”, Michelle chimes in, “D will turn up” and “Michelle will try to find the balance. She only got emotional once, we balance each other out because we both are very passionate about what we do. Very serious about what we do and getting the choirs on track.”
How do they do it? They start by “tackling issues within the choir that are magnified to get them back on track, taking them out of their comfort zones to make them better performers”. And these are not just gospel choirs, there is a variety of choirs that need fixing, from youth choirs to barbershop choirs and so on. They spoke on topics such as what a choir MUST have, Michelle feels that “they should be able to sing, have soul and great chemistry.” Deitrick says “it should be a good minister of music, if the minister is no good then the music won’t be good” (raises hand in agreement), how to handle a person who thinks they should always sing lead; I like Deitrick’s stance on it, “let them sing, the audiences reaction will tell the truth”.
Michelle revealed that “before I had a Grammy and passports, I was a leader in the church and praise dance” so she dug back to her “old self” if you say and pulled out the tricks! Sharing that they “never had an argument in Destiny’s Child”, if there are any issues with anyone [within the choir] go to that person. RESPECT is really the only way a group will work. When there is friction/confusion you have to get in there to fix. When there is a repeated cycle of not being able to reach your goals, give others a chance, let different people lead a song.”
Deitrick mentions “You will see in an episode that Jeffrey Coprich went through something that could have stopped him from committing to LA Inner City Mass Choir. He is a great MAN. I felt the sense of purpose and fulfillment of the purpose”. “It’s an amazing and inspiring episode” Michelle says.
The most memorable moment for the two was in the city of New Orleans, for some reason they both needed a nap after that experience (I couldn’t tell if that were a good thing or not) and they both agreed “A choir represents family, unity and teamwork.”
For Deitrick, the most inspiring part about the experience is helping people reach their goals. A “Life changing experience” is what he calls it. “When we can help others reach that success or get them on the right path that is everything”. He would like the whole choir movement to go mainstream. “As large and massive as it is, it’s still kind of underground” he says.
Michelle Williams and Deitrick Haddon are wanting the audience to finish the show knowing that “Everybody has issues (all walks of life) and those issues can be fixed.”
I want to leave with these words from Dietrick “Music is the soundtrack of people’s lives and music has power.” (yessssssss)
Are they taking choirs back to old school harmony where there is soprano, alto and etc? Welp, you’ll just have to watch on November 5th to find out!
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