This weekend you can turn on your television to see Landry Fields looking a little different than usual. Participating in ABC’s new summer reality competition Sing Your Face Off, Fields will be taking on a different persona each week. In a recently released clip, Fields was dressed in red pants, wig and full makeup performing as Lionel Richie. On the phone from Los Angeles awaiting the airing of the show, Raptors.com caught up with Fields to talk about his side hustle.
Holly MacKenzie: How did you being on the show come about?
Landry Fields: When I played with the Knicks they had a fan night and at the latter part of the night the fans could ask questions to the guys that were there. It was me, Amar’e [Stoudemire], Melo [Carmelo Anthony], Jeremy [Lin], Jared Jeffries and Iman Shumpert. Somebody asked a question like, ‘Who is the best singer on the team?’ and Jared Jeffries, because he was always hearing me singing, said, ‘Landry sings the most.’ They pulled me up, made me sing something and it went to YouTube. The producers of the show saw the YouTube clip and they called my agent and asked if I’d be interested. I said sure and it happened literally right after the season, I had a few weeks off anyway so let’s try it. They Skype interviewed me, I had to sing some more and they said they wanted me on the show.
HM: What is it like now to see the clips so long afterward?
LF: It’s weird. You kind of forget about it, but before we went to playoffs, my agency called me and said, ‘Hey, the show is going to air May 31st,’ and I thought, ‘Oh great. If we’re playing at that time I don't want it to be a distraction.’ But obviously we didn’t make it that far. Then I kind of forgot about it, they brought it back up and I was looking at pictures from some of the weeks. There are some embarrassing photos, but it was fun to do.
HM: What was it like to deal with the wigs and makeup and all of that stuff?
LF: It was a long time sitting in chairs with prosthetics and makeup. There were voice lessons and choreography. On top of that, as the weeks went on for it I had to get back to my training routine for basketball so I was working out before filming and then I’d film and drive back to the same workout place and get another workout in. It was pretty long days but I made sure I kept up with basketball because that was still a huge part. I didn't want the show to take away from that at all.
HM: Was that your first experience with television outside of being on it playing basketball?
LF: Yes it was. Well, nah, in New York, one of my old teammates [Andy Rautins] and I had the Andy and Landry show, but that wasn’t nearly as big as this. This was kind of like a huge thing.
HM: Who is the best musical performer you’ve seen?
LF: Like a concert live? I’d probably say Beyoncé. She was incredible. She’s probably the best overall I’ve ever seen live.
HM: After going through all of the voice lessons and choreography what are your thoughts on performers like Beyoncé who get up and do that every night in front of thousands of people?
LF: Really, I have a much higher respect for them. It’s hard. I hadn’t been doing it long, obviously, but just going through it were some long days. To sing and dance and remember where you’re at on the stage performing, it was tough. Much higher respect for musical artists out there.
HM: Was the choreography the hardest part? Remembering that while you’re singing as well?
LF: Yeah. I think that was definitely the hardest because not only are you trying to sound good while you’re singing, you have to remember where you’re at on the stage, hit your marks during certain points during the song. You had to practice a lot to kind of make it like second nature.
HM: Are you expecting a lot of comments from your teammates/friends when it does air?
LF: Definitely. Especially some weeks I’m not so proud of. Yeah. When those come about, there'll be some comments from a lot of people.
HM: Who is the best singer on the team not including yourself?
LF: Dwight Buycks.
HM: How would you sum up the experience as a whole?
LF: It was a lot of fun. It was something new, something out of the basketball element which, for a lot of guys, basketball doesn’t last forever. In fact, for nobody does it last forever. It was just something I wanted to do and try. It was a short while, it was perfect timing with the season ending and me having some downtime so I figured why not. Why not try it?