Viewers get to vote for their favorite 'duet'

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Simon Cowell had an idea.

Well, it was actually someone else's idea. Still, the sharp-tongued judge from "American Idol" was going to do what every Tinseltown producer does: steal the idea, tweak it and make it his own.

Cowell is a big fan of "Dancing With the Stars," ABC's hit dance-competition show. But instead of pairing stars with champion ballroom hoofers, Cowell wanted to team celebrities not known for their singing skills with legendary musical artists.

"I thought ('Dancing') was a really fun show — to see people like Nick Lachey's brother (Drew) trying to be a dancer or the football player (Jerry Rice)," Cowell says. "I thought it was a great format . . . but I always felt, the second I saw it, that it would actually work as a better singing show."

That show is "Celebrity Duets," or as anyone who watches it is bound to call it, "American Idol Meets Dancing With the Stars."

During the live five-week competition, which begins tonight, you'll see such low-wattage stars as Lucy Lawless, Lea Thompson, Cheech Marin and Alfonso Ribeiro belting out tunes with a variety of musical titans, including Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Clint Black and Chaka Khan.

Other recording artists scheduled to appear on the show are Peter Frampton, Michael Bolton, Belinda Carlisle, Taylor Dayne, Macy Gray, James Ingram, Leeann Womack, Aaron Neville, Wynonna Judd, Kenny Loggins, Brian McKnight, Randy Travis and Dionne Warwick.

As on "Idol," viewers will vote for their favorite (on tonight's two-hour premiere, the judges will eliminate the first contestant) while Wayne Brady (of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" fame) plays Ryan Seacrest with a better singing voice and improv skills.

"There's another side to Wayne, which I really like," Cowell says. "He's fun. He's confident. He can sing. He was an obvious choice for this show."

Judging the festivities will be record producer David Foster, music-star-turned-doll-hawker Marie Osmond and wild-man musical icon Little Richard.

Why Little Richard?

"I love personalities, I love unpredictability," Cowell says. "I didn't want to make this panel too straight. It wasn't the obvious (choice), and that's what I liked about it. He's an artist, and he's interesting. I've seen so many of these shows where the panel is so dull. I wanted to put someone on the show whom I'd be interested to watch."

Meanwhile, Foster, a 14-time Grammy winner — who, as a sought-after studio musician, performed alongside such musical heavyweights as Barbra Streisand, John Lennon, Diana Ross and Rod Stewart — will play the role of Cowell on "Duets."

"I think it's important that you have someone on there whose opinion you can trust," says Cowell of Foster. "David has probably sold half a billion records in his career, so you would have to listen to his opinion because he generally knows what he's talking about."

Of course, Cowell is hoping for another hit like "America's Got Talent" to add to his ever-growing reality show resume. The main difference, however, is that "Duets" actually features people who do have talent.

"There are so many celebrities who wanted to come on this show who genuinely couldn't sing a note," Cowell says. "Every one of these people genuinely believes they have a great singing voice."

While the eight contestants aren't recording artists, it's not as if they can only sing in the shower or don't have any experience. Lawless, for instance, played Rizzo in 1997 in the Broadway musical "Grease." Thompson starred in a Broadway revival of "Cabaret." Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson has been shopping demos to record producers, and Jai Rodriguez ("Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"), who was in the show "Rent" for four years.

"They all think they can win," Cowell says. "They all think they're going to probably have big, successful recording careers at the end. I guess it's something they've wanted all their lives. They're happy being actors or whatever they are, but probably deep down, they've dreamt of being No. 1 on the charts because they're taking it really seriously."

Since Cowell has been known to offer a few criticisms, he's quick with the advice for the contestants.

"Shut your eyes, hold your breath and hope for the best because this is going to be tough," he says. "I mean, it's hard enough when you sing in public when you're used to singing, and most of these people on this show aren't. Now, the fact that we are teaming them up with some of the best singers of all time . . . that's a nightmare."

Getting the music legends to appear on the show wasn't hard. In fact, Cowell says, it was relatively simple.

"To be truthful, I never in a billion years thought that they would come on the show," he says.

That Cowell is a judge on TV's hottest reality show certainly didn't hurt his recruitment efforts. " 'Idol' has been so successful, (and) artists are artists," Cowell says. "They didn't want to be on a show no one is going to watch."

But will enough viewers want to watch "Duets"?

With so many competition reality shows on the air, TV watchers may feel like they've had enough. Cowell isn't worried, though.

"I think if they were all on at the same time, there would be a problem," he says. "But a lot of people who watch 'Idol,' they've all said to me, 'It would be great to have a big singing competition in the autumn.' But we were very aware that this competition had to be very, very different from 'Idol.' "

Kevin D. Thompson writes for the Palm Beach Post.