Carrington Awaits
Published 4:42 pm Tuesday, July 3, 2012
FARMVILLE – Bridget Carrington's family and friends won't know whether the Prince Edward native is still a contestant on ABC's Duets until this week's live episode at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Viewers were able to vote until 11:59 a.m., Pacific Time, on Friday following last week's first live broadcast but the results won't be known-which one of the remaining contestants goes home and which four remain for another week-until the following week's broadcast.
Carrington, the daughter of Mickie and Perry Carrington, of Farmville, is paired with Grammy Award-winning John Legend and the pair knocked out a classic rendition of Beyonce's “Halo” last Thursday night, even wowing celebrity judge Kelly Clarkson, who had seemed hard for Carrington to please during the previous episodes.
ABC promotes the new show, saying, “This one-of-a-kind singing competition takes the singing Superstars out from behind the judges' table and onto the stage.”
The winner receives a recording contract with Hollywood Records.
Along with Legend and Clarkson, the superstar judges and duet partners are Jennifer Nettles and Robin Thicke.
Eight amateur contestants began the competition. Four will compete live on Thursday night, with one going home weekly until the winner is crowned.
Carrington is a 1995 graduate of Prince Edward County High School. She is employed by the City of Richmond.
Online voting for Duets began with the live episodes, with telephone voting opening at the end of each show. Voting proceeds until Friday at 11:59 a.m., Pacific Time, each week.
Viewers can vote up to five times per phone line, five votes online via ABC.com and five votes on Facebook.
The phone number to vote for Carrington is 855-962-5001.
The contestant with the fewest votes each week goes home.
During this Thursday night's episode, the duet partners will sing standards.
Carrington's partner, Legend, has won nine Grammy Awards, earned a special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, collaborated with Kanye West, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, and Lauryn Hill, and appeared on Sesame Street.
Legend's partner began her singing career with her two sisters and father as Perry's Angels and she now performs with Richmond's Horizon.
Working with John Legend has been “quite awesome,” Carrington said in a May interview with The Herald, “because he is such a kind person, and he's very patient. And he's a man of few words but when he speaks it is very profound, it's going to be that nugget of gold that, wow, you've got to hold on to it. It's been great. I'm learning a lot from him. I'm learning how to use my voice. I'm learning how to breathe. I'm learning a lot of things just to keep me where I'm supposed to be vocally in the competition.”
The most important thing she has taken away so far from the experience has to do with understanding herself, her life, and how she held on to her dream.
“I honestly just can't believe every day that it actually happened, and I remember my journey and I just know where I've been, from the age of five wanting to sing and just never giving up,” she said, “so that's the biggest thing and I would preach that to anybody-never give up.”