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Lawless sings her way to second spot

New Zealand Herald

1 October 2006

Sunday October 1, 2006
 

 

The warrior princess can also warble with the best.

 

Xena star Lucy Lawless has come runner-up in the hit American TV show Celebrity Duets, a reality show which pitted television stars with professional singers in an Idol-style competition.

 

The competition was won by Alfonso Ribeiro, who starred as Carlton Banks in the hit TV show Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

 

The programme, which is executive produced by American Idol judge Simon Cowell, saw Lawless go up against wrestling champ Chris Jericho, gymnast Carly Patterson and actors Ribeiro, Hal Sparks, Jai Rodriguez, Lea Thompson and Cheech Marin.

 

Lawless, Sparks and Ribeiro were the final three contestants.

 

In the past few weeks Lawless has sung with such greats as Smokey Robinson and Dionne Warwick.

 

On an internet blog last week, Lawless said the hardest thing about the competition was "conquering your panic".

 

"The panic is just your ego. It ain't you and it ain't God. You have to treat your ego like a yapping, whiny little dog that your grandma left you," Lawless said.

 

"I like to tell it that I'm just going out on stage for a little while and it can wait in the dressing room. It won't be forever, I'll be back for it in, let's say, 15 minutes.

 

"Every week I get better at what I'm doing. How could you not improve when you are being mentored by some of the best performers in the world?"

 

This is not Lawless' first foray into singing. The former Miss New Zealand made her Broadway debut in 1997 starring as Rizzo in the hit musical Grease.

 

Recently she finished filming the the feature film The Darkroom and next will be heard as the voice of Goldmoon in the animated feature Dragonlance, based on the book of the same name.