By: Barrett Gay
At the season 10 premiere of ‘America’s Got Talent’, three best friends from Benton, Ark. belted it out in the Big Apple, receiving a standing ovation from the audience and judges. These small-town singers blew away the big-time celebrity panel, especially Howie Mandel and Howard Stern, as Stern dubbed them “beautifully nerdy.”
The friendship that resulted in the musical trio, Triple Threat, began on a football bench in Benton. Childhood pals Will Richey and Tyler Davis, 2015 graduates from Ouachita, became friends with Caleb Conrad, a senior at the University of Arkansas, after each were injured while on their high school football team. Upon getting to know Conrad better, they soon discovered they had music in common.
All three had choral and performance experience. Richey and Davis had sung in churches and at school functions since their elementary days. They were also in choir their senior year of high school. Conrad was in choir from middle school until his first year of college.
As the group developed, they found that Conrad worked best with the melodies, while Davis and Richey were strong with harmonies.
“I think the thing that makes it click is that we’re all really easy to work [with]…we’re just really close friends and not a whole lot gets to us,” Richey said.
The name ‘Triple Threat’ stemmed from the idea that each member had something special to offer vocally, and together they arranged songs in ways that played to their strengths.
“It makes everything really easy when we’re trying to arrange songs and figure out what we want to do because we all fit in a very specific area in every song,” Davis noted.
“I mean, ‘Three Blind Mice’ was taken,” Conrad joked.
After a few years of singing at preschools, nursing homes and smaller venues in their community, the Benton natives felt confident enough to take their talents to a worldwide audience.
“It was kind of like a bucket list: let’s see how far we can go,” Conrad said.
On opening night, the group sang MKTO’s “Classic.” While many people might freeze under the pressure, Conrad said he didn’t get butterflies.
“It was real hard to be nervous…because you almost have nothing to lose at that point,” Conrad said.
No sooner had Conrad finished his opening line than did the audience burst into applause, and the judges responded positively with bright smiles and encouraging comments about their performance.
“It was totally sincere, they really liked us…it proved t o me that we could pursue this and that we could really make a career out of this,” Conrad said.
“It was surreal… you’re like, ‘Is this really happening?’” Davis said, reflecting on the initial audition.
The group was thankful for the outpouring of encouragement from their schools, community and friends and family.
“…every professor was congratulating us, telling us how good of a job we’re doing, and just the friends that we’ve made at Ouachita have been so supportive, getting in contact with us, letting us know that they’re behind us and they’re really proud of us. So Ouachita has been a really good support system,” Davis said.
“Everything’s been overwhelmingly positive. The community has always supported us in everything that we do, and so they are so proud and so ready to support us,” Conrad said.
They also expressed appreciation for their manager, 2015 Ouachita graduate Tyler Rosenthal, who’d been there since the beginning. Rosenthal helps handle the group’s social media, public appearances and photography, among other tasks.
“He’s been like a super all-star manager,” Conrad said.
In the Judges’ Cuts round, Triple Threat sang a harmonious version of Ariana Grande’s “Problem.” The judges liked what they heard and sent them on to Radio City Music Hall for the live performances.
“Going to Radio City Music Hall is obviously any singer or performer’s dream. It’s literally the biggest stage in the country,” Conrad said.
They then depended on America’s vote instead of the judges’ approval to get them through to the semi-finals. With much on the line, Triple Threat chose a rendition of “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child. Unfortunately, their journey on America’s Got Talent ended after their Radio City performance. However, Triple Threat’s future is far from over.
“What this show does is it gives you maximum exposure to 15 million people each time you’re on and helps you build a fan base. …We want to use that fan base and still hopefully pursue a career because this show has definitely helped us put our name out there,” Conrad said.
Triple Threat can be found on Twitter and Instagram, @itstriplethreat, and Facebook, ‘Triple Threat’. The Benton trio also offered encouragement to singers and performers pursuing their passions.
“Any other group that loves to sing, anybody that has a passion for singing: sing! Go for it. You just gotta like what you do and do it,” Conrad concluded
