Marcus Collins, JC Fisher and John Hagen recall a time when they were living paycheck-to-paycheck and working in construction.
From the construction site to the main stage, these three friends behind The Texas Tenors are reflecting on how they made it to "America’s Got Talent: The Champions" nearly 10 years after their journey started.
“Can you believe that? Ten years,” Marcus Collins asked the other members of the group. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been 10 years. On one hand, it seems like 10 years, on the other hand, it seems like 20.”
The three-time Emmy Award winning vocal group, comprising of Collins, JC Fisher and John Hagen, has performed more than a thousand concerts since their big debut on "America's Got Talent" in 2009, including the National Tree Lighting Ceremony at the White House in 2017.
But the trio remembers a time not too long ago, when they were all struggling to make ends meet in their various, nonmusic-related jobs.
“We were all kind of in a slump, and doing different things, odd jobs. JC and I actually met doing construction together,” Hagen said.
“We were doing construction every day,” Fischer said. “I remember him in there. I was actually laying some tile and he was in there doing some sheet rock. He had this long hair, and he always had his hat on, and then he'd just bust out in song, and I was just like, people need to hear that. I mean he's got an amazing voice, and he's in here doing construction with me.”
Collins said he was in telemarketing and customer services before The Texas Tenors took off.
“When you call a local company for customer service, that's probably me answering the phone half the time,” he said. “We were all just doing things to get by and living paycheck to paycheck, and it still feels that way sometimes.”
Hagen explained that all three of them have individually been dabbling in music on the side, but Fischer decided to bring everyone together to form a vocal group of tenors and audition for "America’s Got Talent."
“I wanted to spend more time with my buddies and that was the only way to do it,” Fischer joked.
The Texas Tenors eventually came in fourth place in "AGT"’s season 4, and leveraged the newfound fame to jump start their careers in music. They are even now working on their latest album.
“'America's Got Talent' gave us a platform to take what we do and get seen and then we took it, we've been running, we've been doing all these shows,” Fischer said. “We talk about how that was our platform that launched us out there, and we look back on our time on the original 'America’s Got Talent' very fondly.”
When they return to the main stage as champions Monday night, the group looks forward to performing their hit "Unchained Melody" to Simon Cowell and show all the judges just how far they have come.
“We look back on our past and we don't take anything for granted, and we encourage [people] all the time to follow their dreams,” said Collins.
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