Michael Bolton has been very emotional on his return to his hometown: “It took me to a place where it seems like only yesterday I was just performing in clubs to survive […] I didn’t expect it to feel that way, but when I sat there, I was sitting where the audience usually was when I used to perform there.”

Patti LaBelle is also looking forward to the show, and encourages her choir the best way she can; “Scream like a woman with a black man chasing you, trying to get your purse,” said LaBelle in a press conference over the phone. However, she felt like she should explain herself: “I have more white than black (people in her group). So I’m not prejudiced. I don’t have no racial thing going through this.”

With the free choice on the kind of music the choirs will perform, Shelton declared his group to be 50% country. “I’m a country singer. I stayed as far away from the choirs as I could. Being a choirboy wasn’t cool,” said Shelton on this all-new experience. With 400 people to choose from in Oklahoma City, Shelton claimed to have found some great voiced.

The one thing that got the stars involved with NBC’s project was the positive message it will send out to people.” Michael Bolton said in an interview he would have not agreed with participating in a show similar to American Idol. “I don’t want to be that guy who tells someone ‘You have no right to be here’ and ‘What are you thinking?’ said Bolton.

The show airs Dec. 17 through Dec. 20 on NBC and promises to be a great competition among choirs, although the five stars will not sing.