Kelley Jakle On "The Sing-Off"

The Sacramento community musical theater talent gets a wider audience:

Kelley Jakle remembers being in fourth or fifth grade in Sacramento when the boy-band craze took off.

"I was on board," she said. "I was at that quintessential age when boy bands were everything."

Maybe not everything, but she did have the posters on the walls and ceiling, said Jakle, now a 20-year-old junior at the University of Southern California.

Starting tonight, she will share the spotlight with one of those boy-band idols: Nick Lachey, a member of 98 Degrees.

Lachey is the host of "The Sing-Off," NBC's latest talent show-style offering.

It features eight a capella groups, including Jakle's SoCal VoCals.

A graduate of Loretto High School in Sacramento, Jakle has been singing since she was walking around the house as a toddler, belting out songs.

As a teen, she did musical theater, flew to Seattle to try out for "American Idol" and sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at sporting events, including a 2006 San Francisco 49ers game.

...Over four days – today through Wednesday, and next Monday, all at 8 p.m. – the group will be shown competing against others for a $100,000 prize and a recording contract.

Not that Jakle's counting on the win.

"We have to just take it day by day, work hard," she said. "It's an honor just to be on the show."

...Home audience voting is another factor in the show, and one that has Jakle doubly regretting this year's closure of Loretto.

"It was a shock," she said. "I would have been so excited to have an alma mater watching the show."

Jakle, speaking between rehearsals for the show, was excited nevertheless. Years after dedicating her walls to boy bands, she's now onstage with – sigh – Nick Lachey.

"He's a good-looking guy, and I'm glad he's still in the industry," she said. "He's got a lot of talent and a lot of charisma."

So do the competitors, she said.

She couldn't reveal any songs ahead of time, but urged people to watch tonight on Channel 3 (KCRA).

"There's going to be a lot of great performances from a lot of groups around the country," she said.

Jakle's singing can be heard online at www.myspace.com/ kelleyjakle, www.myspace.com/ bythewayrocks and scvocals.com.