Behind the curtain

Alaska’s premier singing competition is back for a second season.

‘The Stars We Are’ has expanded to include a field of 17 performers who will compete in six live singing events beginning this Thursday at Williwaw and continuing each week starting at 7 p.m. This family-friendly event is one that was an immediate success in its its first year, entertaining hundreds each week at the live events and thousands more on Channel 11’s DayBreak Morning Show. With the contest slated to begin tonight, here is everything you need to know:

The Competition is the brainchild of Tyson Davis, the singer of the Alaskan folk-rock band Blackwater Railroad Company, and J.W. Frye, the Development Director for the Anchorage Downtown Partnership.

“Tyson came to me with a terrific idea for creating a pipeline for up singers to break through in Anchorage and I figured that if it was worth doing it was worth doing big,’ Frye said.

In order to do it big they were going to have to have help. Davis and Frye started reaching out to their contacts and put together a team that included KTVA, Williwaw, Midnight Sun Brewing and the Anchorage Downtown Partnership.

The competition revolves around six nights of live competition where singers perform for a live audience. Each week they need to solicit votes online and impress the judges. Each week, the live audience at Williwaw votes to save one contestant from the bottom three. Outgoing contestants perform the next day on Channel 11’s DayBreak Morning for the 9 a.m. Mic Check in the Morning. The top three vote-getters at December’s Finale get to perform for more than 10,000 people at the Anchorage Downtown Partnership New Year’s Eve Celebration, and first place also takes home roundtrip airline tickets to anywhere in the U.S.

Davis, who has performed professionally in the state for the last decade, knows that there are no guarantees when you play for an audience. “The Partnership giving us the New Year’s gig as a prize is just an amazing opportunity and one that very few performers get,” Davis said.

But performing in front of the state’s largest audience is not the only opportunity. There are former contestants like Whitney Youngman and Francesca Erni earning paying gigs around the state after their turn in the competition. Last year’s runner up Kendra Doshier and Judge’s Pick Mercedes Curran are both back, but now as a judge and the live host, respectively, of the program.

“I am surprised at the talent level from the younger singers, The fact that they are this good and have the opportunity to learn the business side is neat,” explains Curran, who herself is a classically trained music teacher. Season two is different in that there is more diversity in voices thanks to a partnership with the Alaska Music Project for Youth.

Davis is not going to judge the competition this year but he is still in daily communication with Frye about how improve their project. In addition to song themes, the pair also uses different event nights to raise money and awareness for local causes.

With Season two starting tonight Frye is already looking ahead.

“This has grown into a proving ground and a network for musicians that is already making a real difference,” he said. “I am looking forward to seeing what shape this thing takes this year and beyond.”