Carly Patterson – Celebrity Duets

Q.  Are you still actively involved with gymnastics in any way?

A.  No, not right now.  I have been really busy and I’ve been out in LA.  I was supposed to go to our championships but I ended up getting “Celebrity Duets” so I didn’t go.

Q.  What made the show “Celebrity Duets” appealing to you?

A.  Because I want to be a singer, that’s how I’d like to make my career.  I thought it would be a great opportunity and good experience. 

Q.  You had to audition for the show, what did they have you do?

A.  I had to come to LA and sing.  They filmed me when I went to the studio and I had to sing a couple of songs for them.  They wanted to film me to see my personality.  So then they showed it to the FOX executives and I found out I got it the next day.  I was excited, they said I would have to wait a week but then I ended up finding out sooner.

Q.  I read that you’ve done some music recording before, is that true?

A.  Yeah, I was working with Joe Simpson before all of this and I did some demos out in LA.  Yeah, that’s basically what I did.

Q.  Do you think that your fans are enjoying the new side of you that they’re getting to see with the show?

A.  I hope so!  That’s what I wanted to get out there, to get everyone to vote.  I am trying to get all of my gymnastics community to get behind me and vote.  You can only vote for two hours after the show and a lot of people think you can only vote once.  You can vote the full two hours, you can just keep pressing redial.  Lucy Lawless, Alfonso Ribeiro and Jai Rodriguez, they’re fans are crazy!  They’ll vote thousands or hundreds of times in a night.  That’s what I am trying to get all of my fans to do because I am getting calls saying “Carly I voted for you five times, I voted for you ten times.”  I’m like, “That’s cool, everyone else is voting hundreds of times!”  So, I’m trying to get everyone to vote as many times as they can and know that they can keep voting.  It’s toll free, they can just keep voting me.  It’s a great cause also, you get to give one hundred thousand dollars to charity at the end of it.  It’s all for a good cause and I am trying to spread the word.

Q.  What cause are you singing for?

A.  I want to give it to children’s hospitals for cancer.  I have a girl who I have been mentoring and I got partnered with her through this foundation.  I just kept in touch with her and we’d go to the mall or the movies.  She’d come over to my house and she has this very rare and serious disease.  Last month she was in New York getting a bone marrow transplant for three months.  She’s been through so much and she’s the most positive girl ever.  You’d never see her down on herself or sad about anything, even that she has this serious cancer.  Nothing phases her and she’s the sweetest little girl. 

Q.  Do you feel like some of the poise and composure that you’ve learned from gymnastics has helped with your stage presence?

A.  Yes, a little bit but it’s weird because it’s a totally different arena for me.  I thought that it would be easier to get up on the stage and perform.  The first week I was so nervous that I couldn’t control it.  In the second weekend I realized to have fun, breathe and be myself out there.  That’s what I did and it was a lot easier and now I’m a lot more comfortable.  You feel more confident as the weeks progress and now I feel totally fine.  I can’t wait ’til every Thursday, I want to stay on the show so, so badly.  It’s such great experience for me to work with these artists and hopefully I’ll get some offers from record labels to produce a CD after.  I am hoping that I get some opportunities. 

Q.  Who do you think is your biggest competition?

A.  I feel like it is probably Lucy, Jai, Hal and Alfonso because they have a bigger following then I do.  They’ve been on stage and in the public eye for so much longer than I have. They’re coming from acting and I’m coming from a little gymnastics sport.  So, people don’t know me like people know them.  That’s why I’m trying to rally all of my people and get them to vote more for me.  Hopefully I am making new fans every Thursday.  I just feel like their fan bases are bigger than mine so that’s why they’re my main competition.  Plus, they have more experience than I do.  They have life experience because they are all like fifteen years older than I am.  They’ve been in this business for a long time and they know how to act and put on a show.  I’m getting into this and learning. 

Q.  With getting to work with all of these talented artists, what have you learned from them?

A.  Be yourself, relax on stage and they’ll give me tips on the song that I am doing.  They’ll give me tips on how to move, last week I was with Anita Pointer and we were doing kind of their old dancing.  Everyone that I’ve gotten to know has been so nice and incredibly sweet, kind of taking me under their wing.  It’s been really awesome. 

Q.  What would you like to say to your fans and supporters?

A.  I would like to let them know that they can vote more than once.  Help me out, it’s for a good cause, please get behind me.  Thank you for voting for me in the previous weeks.  I hope that you’ll keep voting for me and vote even more.  Thank you for supporting me in singing and what I want to do now.