I sang for 30 seconds on NETFLIX "7 Seconds" and I'm happy about it!

 

SEVEN SECONDS 

So, I had the chance to binge watch the new Netflix series Seven Seconds.  I had been patiently waiting for the premiere all year for a few reasons. Number one, the show stars Regina King, ( Southland, American Crime, Jerry Maquire, Enemy of the State) who’s work I absolutely love!  Two, I had gone on set to Grace United Methodist Church in Brooklyn to watch the actors work.  It was January 16th, a day after Martin Luther King’s birthday and it turns out that she and Dr. King, share the same birthday,  January, 15th.  So, the cast and crew surprised her with a cake, we sang “Happy Birthday” to her on set and I’m happy to report she is as “real” and down to earth as a person, as her work as an actor would lead you to believe.  But wait, there’s more….and talk about burying the lead!...?   I’m singing in the show!  Thanks to my good friend Marc Ribler ( Little Steven & The Disciples of Soul, Darlene Love), I was asked to perform a cover of Hezekiah Walker’s “I’ll Fly Away” with a fantastic choir out of Connecticut.  The song appears in a scene in the first episode ( Pilot Episode 01) where Russell Hornsby (Fences), another fierce actor, and Regina King, who play husband and wife, are at church choir practice. The funny thing was, there was an actor playing the soloist in the choir, lip syncing to my voice. I had never watched an actor lip-sync to my work before. That was kind of surreal and a bit of a thrill, and also very weird…??.  Did I think that they should have cast me in the part and had me sing on camera as well from the get-go?  Well,  yes of course, I did, but my man did his thing very well, and we must be grateful for the blessings….

Setting my involvement in the show aside, I’m here to tell you Seven Seconds is a great series. I flew through it.  I was drawn in by Regina King and Russell Hornsby, but I discovered a whole cast of fantastic actors, some of whom I did not know before. There are outstanding performances by Michael Mosley, Beau Knapp, Clare-Hope Ashitey and David Lyone in particular.  It is truly an ensemble piece, arried by the entire cast.  It’s suspenseful, emotional,  and it's some taught storytelling.  I won’t give anything away, but it’s a clever story, set against a backdrop of events happening right now in America.  Regina King is the bomb-diggity.

 

                                    Actor Russell Hornsby,  Musical Director Marc Ribler, Yours Truly, and the Amazing Choir of Seven Seconds

          

                                    Great dude and seriously talented actor, Russell Hornsby

 

SEVEN SECONDS ON NETFLIX

https://www.netflix.com/title/80117555

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