Harlemm Lee

[VanillaOrchids]

That's true. I just thought it strange that he would take on a stage name for himself now when he had made a name for himself as Gerry Woo. Maybe it was just time for a change.

[eny]

Probably since he had started the deception about his age, the name was an additional smokescreen. At least he changed it before the competition, unlike LaShundra.
There must be absolutely nothing in their rules about former contracts , for him to still be in the competition.

[famefan]

I read a few postings from another forum about this Gerry Woo/Harlemm Lee issue ...

There's this guy who's trying so hard to convince people that Gerry Woo's name change to Harlemm Lee is a federal offense. This is the entertainment industry - people do it everyday! If it worked for President Gerald Ford, whose name by the way is Leslie King, and for Cher or Sting or Muhammad Ali, there is no harm changing from Gerry Woo to Harlemm Lee (legally changed, BTW).

More "fame" names ...

Alan Alda - Alfonso D'Abruzzo
Bob Dylan - Robert Zimmerman
Michael Landon - Eugene Horowitz
Sophia Loren - Sophia Scicolini
Mel Brooks - Melvin Kaminski
Dean Martin - Dino Crosetti
Martin Sheen - Ramon Esteves
Natalie Wood - Natasha Gurdin

Let me know if you want more :-)

[ilean4clay]

UGH! :rolleyes: What is with these reality TV shows? Harlemm Lee is really Gerry Woo, miserably failed late 80's recording artist? Bah!

I can handle his "lie" about his age and find it understandable but did/does Fame know he's Gerry Woo of the Polygram label? Perhaps he was long ago dropped from the label (not sure since the one link lists him as singing on someone's record as recently as 1998 (was that a typo?)) but I'm pretty disturbed that he's "had a shot" and is "double-dipping" through a TV show.

He's really entertaining but I can't support him in the show now. This is naked deception of the viewer (all four of us)! :mad:

I was puzzled enough over Serena's touring with Gladys Knight. What *is* the criteria? Here are two who aren't as "raw" as the Idol troupe. They can't exactly eliminate them with "Justin" (and others on that stage, imho) being barely above a total embarrassment.

Hard to believe, but I think this is making me all the more cynical regarding the "entertainment industry".

Maybe I just don't understand this multiweek infomercial for Debbie's Dance Academy and Johnny Wright. Is this *not* an amateur-only show?

[fluff]

Gerry Woo? What the heck is going on here?

I'm with you ilean, I thought this was for amateurs

[John]

[IMG]images/img/gerry_woo.jpg[/IMG]

Vocalist Gerry Woo signed with Polydor in 1988, and issued one LP, Listen To My Heart. Though his family was from the Philippines, Woo grew up in Detroit under the spell of Motown. Unfortunately, his LP performed more like the Motown of the late '80s rather than the '60s. — Ron Wynn

Discography:

Help Yourself (Polydor)
Listen to My Heart Beat (Polydor)

"Listen to My Heart Beat" is listed as "in print".

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...=B43rx28oc055a

[John]

By the way, if you're searching for Gerry Woo on the net, don't confuse him with the former Playboy Bunny "Gerry Woo", who is Jack Costanzo's wife, and part of a latin jazz band with her hubby. Two different people, obviously. But if you see references to a 1987 release of "Hey there, lonely girl", that's the wrong Woo.

[cali]

interesting.

I really don't know what to think about all this

[John]

Interestingly enough, NBC has known about this all along...I found a reference in the Freep (that's the Detroit Free Press to all you non-Michiganders), dated 06/18.

"Fame" (8 p.m., WDIV-TV, Channel 4, NBC). Older than he looks. Former Detroiter Harlemm Lee, a singer known by his real name of Gerry Woo when he graduated from Troy Athens High School in 1985, is one of 12 finalists who perform in a special, two-hour edition of Debbie Allen's summertime talent search. Though "Fame" specified no age limit for contestants, Lee told producers he was 27. They recently discovered he's actually 35. Oops. "We're disappointed someone would lie about his age," a "Fame" spokesman said, "but we don't think it's something that should preclude him from participating." Lee's age fib will be mentioned tonight. And that might influence how viewers vote at home.

So, not only did they know about his age, they also knew his former name, and should have been able to do a rudimentary background check to find out if he'd been signed by a label or not. I mean, it took us what, 2 minutes?

http://www.freep.com/entertainment/t...8_20030618.htm

[John]

Gerry also appeared on some TV shows including "Live at the Apollo" and "Soul Train". Apparently, people were thinking he could be the Asian Michael Jackson at the time.