Fort Worth-based Texas Millionaires get showcase on 'America Sings'

But Rocky Willett wants to change that. "I would like for more people to get to know us," he says.The Texas Millionaires, a men's a cappella performing chorus, 56 members strong, has a long history in Fort Worth, dating back 60 years. It sings four-part barbershop-style harmony.The chorus is one of the acts that will be featured this week on America Sings , a music competition show airing at 8 p.m. Wednesday on GMC, a cable network formerly known as Gospel Music Channel."The performance that America Sings will be showing is one that we did in international competition in Denver in 2007," says Willett, vice president of marketing and PR for the Texas Millionaires. "It was only our second time at the international level and we did a song called Alabamy Bound, which we were particularly proud of."We also worked really hard on the choreography. We hired a professional choreographer who showed us what to do. We practiced and practiced, and it paid off. We were the No. 24 barbershop chorus in the country that year [out of more than 800 member groups in the Barbershop Harmony Society]." America Sings is hosted by Drew Lachey, a former member of the singing group 98 Degrees and the Dancing With the Stars Season 2 champion. It's not as big-scale a singing talent show as, say, NBC's The Sing-Off (which is hosted by Drew's older brother, Nick Lachey). But it's still a nice showcase for deserving, underexposed performers in a variety of musical styles, from gospel choirs to doo-wop groups. Plus, a $10,000 prize goes to the viewers' favorite after eight weeks.Willett is excited about being part of the show because it will "raise awareness about barbershop harmony groups in the Dallas-Fort Worth area."There are two Dallas-based barbershop choruses featured in America Sings : the Vocal Majority and MaxQ."Another goal for us, of course, is to win the competition," Willett adds.Fort Worth residents can help the Millionaires in that department by casting online votes."The contest rules say that households may vote for their favorite clips up to 50 times," Willett notes. "So my job and the rest of us in the chorus' job is to get the word out to our friends, to our relatives, to the people who come out to our shows, to everybody: Once the performance is done, go to the website [watchgmctv.com/americasings] and vote for us."What's the old, tongue-in-cheek election saying? Vote early and vote often."If we win the prize money, we would probably put it into new uniforms," Willett says. "We have had the same tuxes for quite some time now. We would also upgrade our portable sound system."The Texas Millionaires, originally known as the Cowtown Chorus, got their start in July 1951 with 12 members and became a chartered member of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 1952. The name was changed -- to the Texas Millionaires -- in 1997."The name came about during rehearsal one day," Willett recalls. "One of our director's favorite mottos was, 'Air is free. Take all you want.' And somebody in the chorus piped up with the remark, 'Hey, that would make us millionaires.' And we all looked at each other and said, 'Hey, that's kind of catchy.'

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