Voice winner to play Ray Charles on 'Playboy Club'
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NBC confirmed to TheWrap that the first winner of NBC's talent search series The Voice will portray Charles, and sing the Charles hit Let the Good Times Roll, in an upcoming episode of the network's new drama series The Playboy Club.
As with Fox's Glee, and NBC's 2002-05 comedy-drama American Dreams, music will play a major role on The Playboy Club. Contemporary artists will portray the musical artists of the day in the late 1950s/early 1960s-set series, and will perform their classic tunes in episodes.
Among the other current stars scheduled to appear on Playboy Club: Pop singer Colbie Caillat will portray Lesley Gore and sing Gore's No. 1 hit It's My Party; R&B singer and original Tony! Toni! TonØ! member Raphael Saadiq will play R&B legend Sam Cooke and croon Cooke's Having a Party; and Canadian actress and singer Karen LeBlanc will kick off all things musical in the September 19 Playboy Club pilot when she portrays Tina Turner and sings Shake a Tail Feather and Tina's Wish.
As with Glee, songs recorded for The Playboy Club will be sold via iTunes, with songs posted on iTunes on the Friday before they air on the following Monday's Playboy Club installment.
As first reported by Billboard, Playboy Club producers -- including Grammy-winning pop star Richard Marx, who's working as a vocal producer on the show in Chicago -- also plan to cast singers to portray Frank Sinatra, James Brown and Roy Orbison for future episodes.
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