The Sing-Off

The Sing-Off
Genre	Reality television
Format	Interactive singing competition
Presented by	Nick Lachey
Judges	Ben Folds Shawn Stockman Nicole Scherzinger (2009–2010) Sara Bareilles (2011)
Theme music composer	Dylan Berry, Mike Geier
Composer(s)	Dylan Berry, Mike Geier, The House Jacks
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	20
Production
Executive producer(s)	Joel Gallen Sam Weisman Deborah Jelin Newmyer (Seasons 1-) Mark Burnett (Season 4-)
Producer(s)	Deke Sharon
Production company(s)	Tenth Planet Productions Outlaw Productions Sony Pictures Television (Seasons 1-) One Three Media (Season 4-)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	HDTV
Original run	December 14, 2009 – present
External links
Website
Production website

The Sing-Off is an American television singing competition featuring a cappella groups. It debuted on NBC on December 14, 2009, and is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Outlaw Productions, with Mark Burnett's One Three Media being added for the fourth season.

It was hosted by Nick Lachey (from the boy band 98 Degrees), with judges Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman (of the R&B vocal group Boyz II Men), and originally Nicole Scherzinger, later replaced by Sara Bareilles. The show's music staff all came from the a cappella community: Deke Sharon, Bill Hare, Ed Boyer, Ben Bram, Robert Dietz, Christopher Diaz and Nick Girard.

A cappella groups from the United States, including Puerto Rico, were chosen by audition and advanced in the competition based on judges' eliminations until the finale, with the winners being determined by viewer votes.

The program has featured guest appearances by various popular artists, including Bobby McFerrin, Natasha Bedingfield, Jay Sean, Smokey Robinson, Neil Diamond, Boyz II Men, and Sara Bareilles.

The Sing-Off was renewed for a third season and started airing much earlier on September 19, 2011, although the first two series had been broadcast in December. Unlike previous seasons, the early start in September allowed for the production of more episodes and the number of participant groups increased.

The Puerto Rican group Nota won the title for the inaugural season in 2009. For Season 2, Committed from Huntsville, Alabama took the 2010 title and for season 3, Pentatonix from Arlington, Texas won the 2011 title.

On May 13, 2012, The Sing Off was not renewed for another season, presumably cancelled after three seasons. However, on March 13, 2013, almost a year after the show was not renewed, NBC announced The Sing Off would return for a fourth season.

The Sing-Off format has also been adapted in France, the Netherlands and China.

Summary

Season	Winner	Runner-up	Third	Ep #	First Airdate	Last Airdate
1	Nota	Beelzebubs	Voices of Lee	4	December 14, 2009	December 21, 2009
2	Committed	Street Corner Symphony	The Backbeats	5	December 6, 2010	December 20, 2010
3	Pentatonix	Dartmouth Aires	Urban Method	11	September 19, 2011	November 28, 2011

Season 1: 2009

Main article: The Sing-Off (season 1)

The show featured eight a cappella groups performing popular songs live. The winner's prize was $100,000 and a Sony Music recording contract.

The first episode saw each group perform their signature song. The second episode saw the remaining six groups perform two songs: in the first half of the show, each group performed one big hit from recent years; and in the second half, they each sang one "guilty pleasure" song. The third episode had the five remaining groups perform a medley from a classic artist. In the second part of the show, the four remaining groups performed songs that the judges picked specifically to showcase each group's strengths.

At the end of the third show, viewers were asked to call or text to vote for one of the remaining groups, Voices of Lee, The Beelzebubs, and Nota. The group with the most votes was revealed in the finale, and in the end Voices of Lee was revealed to come in third place halfway through the finale, with Nota being declared winners.

Season 2: 2010

Main article: The Sing-Off (season 2)

In the second season of the show, returned on December 6, 2010 for 5 episodes, with the number of groups increased from 8 to 10, with all acts coming from the United States. Nick Lachey returned as host for the second season, as well as the three judges Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman and Nicole Scherzinger.

The first episode had the groups sing their signature songs. In the second episode, the remaining eight groups sang a modern song that was released in the past 5 years. For the third episode, the groups covered a rock song and a "guilty pleasure" piece. The fourth episode was to sing a medley of songs by a noteworthy artist and perform a song chosen by the judges. One more group was supposed to be eliminated, but the judges chose to put Jerry Lawson and The Talk of the Town, The Backbeats, Street Corner Symphony and Committed all through to the finale. This is the only season to have four groups in the finale.

At the finale, Jerry Lawson and The Talk of the Town was the first to be eliminated. The Backbeats came in third place, Street Corner Symphony came in second and Committed won the title.

Season 3: 2011

Sara Bareilles was a new judge for the third season, replacing Nicole Scherzinger

Main article: The Sing-Off (season 3)

The Sing-Off was renewed for a third season of 11 episodes and premiered on September 19, 2011. This was the first Sing-Off Season to include 16 groups of a cappella singers. On May 16, 2011, it was announced that judge Nicole Scherzinger would not return as a judge for this season due to her duties as one of the judges of The X Factor, and that Sara Bareilles would replace Scherzinger on the judging panel. Nick Lachey, Ben Folds, and Shawn Stockman all returned.

Since there were 16 vocal groups, the groups were divided into two brackets of 8 for the first four episodes to get down to the top 10. Episodes one and two had the groups sing their signature songs, while episodes three and four had the groups perform a current hit and a classic from the 1960s. The fifth episode saw the two brackets merge, with the remaining 10 groups performing their guilty pleasure songs. In the sixth episode, the 8 remaining groups performed a hip-hop song and at the end of the episode, the show had their first-ever Sing-Off showdown, in which bottom two groups sang different versions of a song and the judges voted which to send home. The remaining groups in episode seven sang a superstar medley and in episode eight, the remaining six performed a country song and a rock and roll song. The top 5 groups performed R&B hits from today, and classics from the past, in episode nine. In episode 10, the top 4 performed master mix songs, a song picked by the judges. In the elimination, Urban Method and Pentatonix advanced to the finale. The judges could not come to a decision on the remaining 2 groups, Afro-Blue and the Dartmouth Aires, so they performed their favorite songs from past performances. In a 2-1 decision by the judges, Afro-Blue was voted off and the Dartmouth Aires advanced to the finale. The live finale crowned Pentatonix as winners, with the Dartmouth Aires coming in second, and Urban Method coming in third place.

One week after the third season ended, a Christmas special (titled "The Sing-Off Christmas") was aired on December 5, 2011. It featured groups from all three seasons singing various Christmas songs.

Season 4

On March 13, 2013, NBC announced The Sing Off would return for a fourth season, with additional production by Mark Burnett's One Three Media, which also produces NBC's other singing competition show, The Voice. The show is slated to return in late 2013 over several nights. However, after the fourth season was announced, Sara Bareilles announced that she will not be returning to the show.

External links

• Official website
• The Sing-Off on Facebook
• The Sing-Off on Twitter
• The Sing-Off at the Internet Movie Database