MUKILTEO — When Chance McKinney started teaching math at Kamiak High School four years ago, few people at the school knew he could carry a tune.
Now his musical talent is probably the worst kept secret at the school.
McKinney learned this week that he is one of four finalists in a national country music singing and song-writing contest sponsored by the Country Music Television network.
The Music City Madness online contest started in October between 64 country musicians who each entered an original song and an accompanying music video in the contest. Viewers are responsible for voting their favorite artist through every round and can vote as many times as they want.
The musicians with the most votes at the end of each round move on in the competition. One winner will receive a televised national recording session at Nashville’s Studio 330, the opportunity to audition for Valory Music, and a meeting with country star Reba McEntire.
“It’s surreal,” McKinney said. “I don’t know if these people know that I’m a high school math teacher.”
His is the “overnight success story that took 12 years,” he said.
McKinney grew up in Missoula, Mont., where most people either listened to rock or country music, he said. He became part of a Motown group in 1998 after attending Washington State University and sang bass with the group for the next seven years before becoming interested in country music. He released his first solo album five years ago before he helped put together a local group, Nathan Chance. The group became the “house band” when national acts performed in the Northwest, he said. They opened for artists including Gary Allan, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, George Strait and Taylor Swift.
Before coming to Kamiak, McKinney taught at Skyline High School in Sammamish and helped to coach track at the University of Washington. He wrote “Be Real,” the original song he entered in the contest, in 2005 while coming home from coaching a track meet in California.
“I was exhausted and I knew better than to say I’ll remember (the lyrics) so I scribbled the lyrics down on a junk envelope and on the airplane home I called home and recorded the melody on my voicemail from 30,000 feet,” he said.
Fans heard the song for the first time in August 2006 when Nathan Chance opened for the country group SheDaisy at the Tulalip Amphitheatre.
The crowd loved it, but the ballad wasn’t the band’s style, McKinney said. So he shelved the song for over two years. The song was revived when he learned about the contest three days before the entries were due.
“This song is so simple,” he said. “I think when a song speaks the truth there’s not much polishing that needs to be done.”
McKinney said he wasn’t expecting his song to generate so much interest, or to appeal to high school students, but it did. Shortly after his students learned he was part of the contest, they told others and got the word out through social networks such as Facebook.
“A lot of people in the school knew he was a country singer just from word eventually getting around, but he rarely talked about it, so we didn’t know much,” senior Kate Higman said. “Once word started getting out about the contest, we started getting our friends involved so he would get more votes. By Round Three, I think almost our whole school knew about the contest and most of us were on the computer everyday voting for him.”
McKinney tried to keep from saying anything about the contest during his classes but said students finally asked him to say something.
“I told them if you really feel (the song) is better than the others then vote, but I would never ask you or coerce you into voting,” he said.
Hearing McKinney talk about his musical career piqued the interest of several other teachers shortly after McKinney started teaching at Kamiak. They went to one of his shows to see him perform.
“I, personally, am a fan of hip-hop music, and never thought I would like country music until I attended one of Chance’s shows,” said Cory West, boys basketball coach and resource teacher with the Special Services Department. “After that show, I found myself attending more of his shows, not only because he was a co-worker and friend, but because I actually liked the music.”
Kamiak math teacher Jeremy Schillinger said students realized they could help promote McKinney’s talents.
“Once they settled down and got over the fact that Mr. McKinney can sing, the kids came up with some great ideas for promoting his career and sharing the competition with other Kamiak students,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if 80 percent of the 2,200 students at Kamiak have voted on his behalf.”
The current round of the competition ends Nov. 30. A winner will be announced Dec. 15 according to the contest Web site, www.cmt.com.
McKinney believes all four finalists represent a different style of country music.
“If people were just logging on for the first time and looking at the finalists I think they would have a real hard time figuring out it was a country competition,” he said. “We’re going to find out what direction the nation wants us to take country music.”
McKinney said he has to be prepared, win or lose.
“I want to react with grace and thankfulness if I win and grace and thankfulness if I lose,” he said.
Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.
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