Terry Fator

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Terry Fator
Terry Fator with his character Johnny Vegas.
Background information
Also known as	"The Million Dollar Voice" and "The Human Jukebox"
Born	June 10, 1965 (1965-06-10) (age 43)
Origin	Mesquite, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Ventriloquist, Impressionist, Singer
Voice type(s)	Countertenor - Bass
Years active	circa 1975 - present
Website	The Terry Fator Show

Terry Fator, aka "The Human Jukebox" (born June 10, 1965), is a ventriloquist and impressionist from Mesquite, Texas. Fator is capable of doing over 100 ventriloquial impersonations,^[1] and uses 16 different puppets in his act. He was the winner of Season 2 of America's Got Talent, and received the million dollar prize.^[2] The following year, he was signed on as the headliner at The Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada ^[3].

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early Life and start in Show Business

Terry Fator was born June 10, 1965 in Mesquite, Texas. His mother is Marie Sligh, a real estate agent. Marie Sligh's husband, David Sligh, is the uncle of Chris Sligh, an American Idol season 6 finalist.^[1]

The beginning of Fator's ventriloquism career dates back to when he was in fifth grade.^[1][4] While searching for a book for an assignment on Valentine's Day, he came across a book about ventriloquism.^[4] Fator checked out the book and started learning about ventriloquism.^[1] A few weeks later, Fator purchased a Willie Talk dummy from Sears^[1] and soon won a $25 prize for a performance at a church picnic.^[4]

Throughout his childhood, Fator entertained family and friends with his ventriloquism and did impersonations of singers and actors.^[1] When Fator was in sixth grade, he appeared on a popular children's show in Dallas called Peppermint Place that starred "Mr. Peppermint" Jerry Haynes.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Band Member

Fator got his start touring as the lead singer of a band called "Freedom Jam" in 1987-88, produced by Young American Showcase [1],([2]). They performed at over 200 high schools and middle schools across the United States, averaging three performances per school day. [3]

Terry Fator with Freedom Jam in Young American Showcase.

In mid 1988, he was the lead singer of a show band called 'Texas the Band'^[5] when he was 20, and incorporated his puppet Walter T. Airedale into his shows. Fator's band at one point was about to sign with a major record label and one of the label's representatives came to hear the band.^[6] Fator sang the songs impersonating the original vocalists. "He told me 'you gotta stop doing those impressions,' and wanted me to sing in my own voice," Fator says.^[6] "I tried it for a few weeks, and absolutely hated, it. We told the record company 'no thanks.' "^[6]

[edit] Fator revamps his Act combining Singing and Ventriloquism

Fator left the band and did a solo act combining comedy and ventriloquism but for many years had little success.^[6] "Fairs would stick me on a little stage in the back of fair and have me do three shows in the hottest part of the afternoon," says Fator.^[6] "I had heat stroke a couple of times, almost passed out."^[6]

In May 2007, before appearing on America's Got Talent, Fator was performing at a fair near Houston, Texas and only one 12 year old boy was in the audience. Discouraged, Fator contemplated pursuing another career, but his family encouraged him to hang in there. Terry entered the America's Got Talent competition with the hope that the exposure if he made it to the Top 20 might help his career and cause people to want to attend his shows. But Fator says the low point of his career was when he appeared at a 1,000 seat theater and had only one customer.^[4]

Fator's success stems from combining singing and ventriloquism and it wasn't even his idea.^[7] Fator had been the lead singer in a band and often did impersonations of singers like Garth Brooks, Etta James, James Taylor and Dean Martin while ventriloquism was just a comic side gig for Fator.^[7] Per the suggestion of his manager, Fator decided to join his two talents, ventriloquism and impersonations.^[1] "I had one of my characters sing Garth Brooks' Friends in Low Places and the audience went bananas," Fator says.^[7] "Boy, that was where my life changed."^[7] After his initial success Fator revamped his act.^[7] "It took me six months and I completely rewrote the show," says Fator. "It was then that people really noticed and I started getting standing ovations at the end of every show."^[7]

Prior to winning "America's Got Talent," Fator was an opening act for Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Neal McCoy, and Styx.^[8] Fator also made corporate appearances at General Motors and AT&T.^[8]

[edit] Success on America's Got Talent

Terry Fator appears at the "Poncan Theater" in Ponca City, Oklahoma on May 6, 2008 with his character Winston the Impersonating Turtle. Photo Credit: Hugh Pickens

Terry Fator with his character Julius.

Terry Fator with his character Walter T. Airedale.

Terry Fator with his character Maynard Thomkins.

Before appearing on America's Got Talent, Fator had almost given up on achieving success in show business as a ventriloquist.^[9] "It wasn't easy trying to keep going all these years, and by the time I was in my late 30s, I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen," says Fator.^[9]

On June 19, 2007, Fator made his first national appearance on America's Got Talent. When Fator first came onstage judge David Hasselhoff said "Oh, no, a ventriloquist."^[9] "I was thinking, there's no way I would win," Fator says.^[4] "I gave myself zero percent [chance]."^[4] The judges, Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff, loved Fator and he won the competition.^[4] Judge Piers Morgan told Fator "You’re a great impersonator, a great singer and a great comedian."^[10] "You put a twist on the whole being a ventriloquist thing," added Judge Sharon Osborne.^[10]

After Fator won the $1 million prize, he bought his wife an expensive wedding ring and a dream house near Dallas.^[4]

Appearances on America's Got Talent:

• Chicago auditions: His puppet Emma Taylor sang "At Last" impersonating Etta James.^[11]

• Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 1): Performance was not televised.
• Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 2): Passed through.^[12]

• Semifinals (Part 2): Performed "What a Wonderful World" with his turtle puppet Winston impersonating Kermit the Frog, and doing Louis Armstrong himself.^[13][14]

• Top Ten episode: Performed "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole as a duet between himself and his puppet Emma Taylor.^[15][16] On this episode, he expressed a desire to bring ventriloquism back to the mainstream and said he had in 2006 performed a show at a 1,000-seat theater, at which only one person (a 12-year-old boy) showed up, prompting him to almost quit.^[15]

• The Final Eight: His puppet Johnny Vegas sang "That's Amore" impersonating Dean Martin and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" impersonating Tony Bennett.^[17][18]

• The Final Four - Judge's Choice: His puppet Walter T Airdale sang "Friends in Low Places" impersonating Garth Brooks.^[19][20]

• The Final Four - Contestant's Choice: His turtle puppet Winston sang "Crying" impersonating Roy Orbison.^[19][21]

• Season Finale - Celebrity Duet: With guest Kermit the Frog, his puppet Johnny Vegas sang "You've Got a Friend", impersonating James Taylor.^[2] Terry learned to do his James Taylor impression in only four days.^{[citation needed]} Nielsen ratings estimated that the show attracted the largest audience on any network in the summer of 2007, drawing an average of 13.9 million total viewers.^[22]

[edit] Life after America's Got Talent

It was announced on the show that in conjunction with winning, he was to appear at the Jubilee Theatre at Bally's. However, the spots were only going to be 15 minutes long, and in complete mutual cooperation with his management team and Bally's, the plan was dropped.^{[citation needed]} Fator performed at Christian rock legend Larry Norman's 60th birthday party in April 2007.^[23] Later Terry flew Larry to tapings of America's Got Talent and also to his debut show at the Las Vegas Hilton as an honored guest. Norman told friends shortly before his death that it was one of the most fun years of his life.

On October 14 and 15 2007, after winning America's Got Talent, Fator took the stage of the Las Vegas Hilton (formerly the International, the same stage that Elvis Presley performed on for many years.) Both shows were sold out to standing room only. Another show was added for December 3 to satisfy the demand for tickets.

In early December 2007, Fator signed a contract for $1.5 million with the Las Vegas Hilton to do 3 shows a month from January 2008 to May 2008. Fator also performed a 6 p.m. early "family" "New Years Eve" show on December 31, 2007. Some Barry Manilow walk-ons are in the talking stage for early 2008.^{[citation needed]}

On March 17, 2008, Fator appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show along with American Idol Judge Simon Cowell. To the amazement of Oprah, Cowell referred to Terry as one of the "two most talented people on the planet." Fator performed with three of his "dummies"; country singer Walter T. Airedale performed a Garth Brooks song and Winston, the impersonating Turtle sang a BeeGees song. But it was the performance of Fator's new sidekick, Julius, who wowed Oprah with a spot-on rendition of Marvin Gaye.

In 2007, Terry became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.^[24]

On May 13, 2008 it was announced that Terry had signed a five year deal to perform nightly at The Mirage Casino and Resort in Las Vegas. He will replace headliner Danny Gans and the theatre will be renamed the Terry Fator Theatre. Reportedly the deal is worth an astounding $100 million with an option to extend another five years making the entire deal worth over $200 million. This would be one of the largest entertainment deals in Las Vegas history.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Getting Ventriloquism Taken Seriously

Fator has fought to be taken seriously as a ventriloquist.^[9] "There have been so few good, successful ventriloquists - Edgar Bergen in the 1940s and Paul Winchell in the 1960s were respected and successful," says Fator.^[9] "And in the 1970s, I used to watch Willie Tyler and his Lester as well as Jay Johnson and Bob. But over the years, there have been so many bad ventriloquists - and most of them doing corny shows for children - that people began to think of us as a bad joke."^[9]

Fator says that ventriloquists often get a bad reputation because of the ones who perform for children.^[7] "They assume it's only for children and they don't need to be good, and they write stupid stuff the kids will like. You are really underestimating children when you do that," says Fator.^[7] "My show is written for adults, for the adult intellect. It's like a Pixar movie. It's appropriate for children, but the adults will enjoy it more than the kids do."^[7]

Fator says that he is an illusionist with his cast of seven original puppet characters.^[8] "I look at myself as a talk show host and the characters are my guests," says Fator.^[8] "I can guarantee anyone who comes to my show, within a second or two, will feel that the puppet is the real entity. I love creating life out of wood and felt."^[8] "I feel like I am the poster boy of the American dream, but it's not like winning the lottery - I earned it," says Fator.^[6] "I spent years and years honing my craft, working on it and learning to do it as well as I possibly could. I'm so gratified"^[6]

[edit] Puppets

This is an incomplete list of the character names for the puppets that Terry Fator uses in his act.

• Walter T. Airedale^[9]
• Winston the Impersonating Turtle
• Julius
• Emma Taylor^[9]
• Johnny Vegas^[9]
• Maynard Thomkins
• Dougie Scott Walker
• Lynard Skynard

[edit] Charitable Work

In July 2007 Fator appeared in Montana to help raise funds for the Kidsports Sports Complex in Kalispell and said he wanted to come back in 2008 to do another show.^[25] “We thought, we bet he wants to, but we bet he won’t have time,” said Nancy Manning of Rotary Club of Kalispell.^[25] “He made time because it’s so important to him.”^[25] All proceeds from Fator’s show went towards the field.^[25]

In 2007 Fator did a benefit performance for miners' families in Huntington, WV.^[4]

On September 3, 2007, Fator made a special appearance in the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, thanking the crowd for the support. His acts were a repeat of the acts he made on America's Got Talent. He brought back Emma Taylor to sing "At Last" and Winston the Turtle to sing "What a Wonderful World" again.

[edit] References

[edit] External links and references

• NBC's America's Got Talent page
• Terry Fator's website