USA NETWORK'S NASHVILLE STAR TEAMS UP WITH RCA LABEL GROUP TO FIND COUNTRY MUSIC'S NEXT SUPERSTAR
** Season Four to premiere Tuesday, March 14 at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) **
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- December 15, 2005 -- Nashville Star, USA Network's original grassroots talent search to find the next country music star and the nation's top-rated country music series, has partnered with the RCA Label Group -- Nashville to give someone their big break when Nashville Star returns for Season Four, it was announced today by executive producer H.T. Owens. The winner will be on one of RLG's three labels -- Arista Nashville, BNA or RCA Records.
"We couldn't have chosen a better partner than the RCA label group to help us discover, cultivate and launch our next Nashville Star," said Owens. "We are working in lockstep with RLG's immensely talented A&R department to ensure that this year's finalists are the most talented ever, and that this season's winner has all of the resources and support to succeed in the highly competitive country music market."
The RCA Label Group is home to multi-platinum and platinum superstars including Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Martina McBride, Lonestar, Sara Evans, Diamond Rio and Brad Paisley, as well as many talented young acts just breaking into the business.
"We are thrilled to be in business with Nashville Star. This partnership represents a huge opportunity to launch the winner and we are very much looking forward to working on making a record with this new artist," explained Joe Galante, Chairman, RCA Label Group.
Nashville Star producers saw twice the number of contestants as last year audition in 18 markets across the country in just six weeks. With Regional auditions in Houston and Nashville still to come, Season Four has already exceeded expectations in the search to find the most talented and deserving cast.
The first three seasons of the series have launched the careers of promising artists including Buddy Jewell, Miranda Lambert and 2005's Erika Jo. Jewell debuted his self-titled CD at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA. Runner-up Miranda Lambert became a household name when her "Kerosene" became the highest-selling debut album of 2005 and then went on to be certified gold as well. Erika Jo, the most recent NASHVILLE STAR, landed at No. 5 on the same chart with her self-titled debut CD and at No. 27 on the Hot 200 Album Chart (all genres), outselling Kenny Chesney, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, Tim McGraw and Shania Twain, among others.
As previously announced, Five-time Grammy Award Winning Superstar Wynonna Judd (Curb Records) and RAYBAW/Warner Bros. Record's Cowboy Troy will host, while Arista Nashville singer/songwriter Phi Vassar and music executive Anastasia Brown return to the judges' table with a rotating celebrity guest each week.
NASHVILLE STAR is created by Reveille and executive produced by Ben Silverman ("The Biggest Loser," "The Office") and H.T. Owens ("The Restaurant," "30 Days"). Jeff Boggs will executive produce in association with Reveille again for the second year. The show is produced by Jon Small ("Garth Brooks Live From Central Park," "Billy Joel Live at Yankee Stadium") and his production company, Picture Vision, alongside co-executive producer Mark Koops ("The Restaurant," "Blow Out").
REVEILLE develops produces and distributes new and non-traditional programming formats for television and motion pictures across a variety of genres, including comedy, drama, game, and reality for American and international markets. In addition to selling television formats for independent producers such as NBC Universal Television Studios (USA Network, Sci Fi Channel), BBC Worldwide, Renegade and Princess Productions, Reveille sells its own produced program formats such as "The Restaurant" (NBC), "Blow Out" (Bravo) and "30 Days" (FX). Reveille also distributed the internationally renowned, award-winning "911" documentary and is a world leader in creating integrated marketing opportunities for leading advertisers, developing alternative financing paradigms and selling and distributing television formats in markets worldwide. Reveille has produced projects such as, "Coupling," "The Restaurant", "The Biggest Loser" and "The Office: An American Workplace" for NBC. Cable projects include "Blow Out" for Bravo, "The Club" on Spike, USA Network's "Nashville Star," the Morgan Spurlock project "30 Days" for FX Networks and MTV's "Date My Mom."
USA NETWORK is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports events, off-net television shows, and blockbuster theatrical films. USA Network is seen in over 89 million U.S. homes. The USA Network Web site is located at www.usanetwork.com. USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.
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