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- Lorena Peril, Dave Attell
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There is singing and over-singing, and to discern between the two, listen to Christina Aguilera and Lorena Peril.
Both sing. Both over-sing, too, on occasion. And one has over-sung while impersonating the other.
That would be Peril, the current “Fantasy” vocalist at the Luxor who performed for two years as Aguilera in the now-defunct “American Superstars” tribute show at the Stratosphere. For six nights a week, two shows a night, Peril inhabited Aguilera’s distinctive stage persona and effectively mimicked her vocal capacity to the point where she had nearly lost her own identity.
“It was easy for me to impersonate her. I just had to study her mannerisms, the little finger mannerisms she does on the microphone, do the hand up in the air, and over-sing a little,” Peril said last week during a segment on “Kats With the Dish.” “But I forgot who I was after a while. I started becoming her even when I wasn’t wearing the wig, or when I wasn’t in the show ... I was losing my own mannerisms.”
Peril left the show to join Sin City Bad Girls at the Las Vegas Hilton. After that show, too, she was plucked by producer Anita Mann to replace Angelica Bridges as the vocalist in “Fantasy” last August.
But Peril would again encounter the image -- the real image -- of Aguilera. In the spring, Peril was selected to audition for NBC’s “The Voice,” for which Aguilera is seated as one of the series’ coaches. She’s joined this season by Cee-Lo Green, Blake Shelton and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine.
Peril has resisted taking part in such shows, saying, “I never wanted to do reality TV-slash-singing competition shows. I love performing live. I’m more of an entertainer than a singer. The only reason I do this is because my mom was a housekeeper and I wanted to take care of her. I didn’t want to do it for fame.”
But the show’s casting directors encouraged the powerhouse vocalist to audition, primarily because show producer Mark Burnett had heard Peril and thought she might shake up the competition.
It didn’t work out, though. During Peril’s audition April 14 in Burbank, Calif., in which she let loose with “Proud Mary,” none of the coaches spun around for the approval she’d need to advance in the competition.
The unconvinced included Aguilera, who may or may not have realized she’d just vetoed a woman who made a living performing as … Christina Aguilera.
“When they saw me, Cee-Lo was like, ‘Aaaargh! I’m pressing the button (to turn his chair around), see? I’m pressing the button!” Peril said. “Christina complimented me, ‘Cee-Lo just thinks you’re beautiful.’ ”
But Aguilera then leveled her critique of Peril’s performance. As Peril recalled, “She said, ‘You know, I felt like you were over-singing a little.’ ”
This is a laughable account. In fact, the comment sent my co-host, Tricia McCrone, into an actual laughing spasm.
“But I was over-singing,” said Peril, who has performed “Proud Mary” thousands of times and gave this performance extra oomph. “I was dancing my a-- off in stilettos and spinning around. I must have looked like a dork … Maybe it wasn’t a sound that they liked.”
“Well, I’ll bet you got all the words right,” McCrone said, still laughing.
“She said it!” Peril responded, referring to McCrone. “Not me!”
That was a reference to Aguilera’s rocky rendition of the national anthem during this year’s Super Bowl. It was a performance that, days later, Peril was jarred by Aguilera’s own over-singing. Oh, and her inability to recite the song’s lyrics.
“But she is a great singer, totally,” said Peril, quick not to ruffle the feathers of a pop music superstar. But Peril is in her class, vocally. Years ago, when Aguilera was performing in town, a reviewer in town noted, accurately, that music fans had a choice: to see Aguilera perform for $150, or see someone just as good -- Peril -- for $39.95 at the Stratosphere.
And now she’s onstage nightly at the Luxor.
“ ‘Proud Mary’ just didn’t do anything for them, and that’s OK,” Peril said. Last month, 20 contestants from the show, including Frenchie Davis and Peril’s roommate during her two-week audition stint, Serabee, showed up at “Fantasy.”
“I had a good time and went back to my job.”
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.