Terry Fator at the Mirage Hotel Las
Vegas
Terry Wayne
Fator, also known as the Human Jukebox, is a
ventriloquist, impressionist, comedian, and singer from
Mesquite, Texas.
Fator is capable of doing over 100 ventriloquial
impersonations, and uses 16 different puppets in his act. He
was the winner of Season 2 of America's Got Talent, and
received the million dollar prize. The following year, he was
signed on as the headliner at The Mirage hotel and casino in
Las Vegas, Nevada.
The beginning of
Fator's ventriloquism career dates back to when he was in fifth
grade. While searching for a book for an assignment on
Valentine's Day, he came across a book about ventriloquism
titled, Ventriloquism for Fun and Profit, by Paul Winchell.
Fator checked out the book and started learning about
ventriloquism.A few weeks later, Fator purchased a Willie Talk
dummy from Sears and soon won a $25 prize for a performance at
a church picnic.
Throughout his
childhood, Fator entertained family and friends with his
ventriloquism and did impersonations of singers and actors.
When Fator was in sixth grade, he appeared on a popular
children's show in Dallas called Peppermint Place that starred
"Mr. Peppermint" Jerry Haynes. Fator was able to save his money
and got his first professional ventriloquism dummy when he was
eighteen.
Fator says he found he
had the ability to impersonate singers by practicing
ventriloquism while driving his car. "One of the reasons I
learned how to sing as a ventriloquist was because I like
singing in the car," Fator says. "I’d see other people singing
in the car, and they looked goofy, so I’d do it without moving
my lips."
Fator got his start
touring as the lead singer of a band called "Freedom Jam" in
1987-88, produced by Young American Showcase. They performed at
over 200 high schools and middle schools across the United
States, averaging three performances per school day. Terry
Fator with Freedom Jam in Young American
Showcase.
In mid 1988, he was the
lead singer of a show band called 'Texas the Band' when he was
20, and incorporated his puppet Walter T. Airedale into his
shows. Fator's band at one point was about to sign with a major
record label and one of the label's representatives came to
hear the band. Fator sang the songs impersonating the original
vocalists. "He told me 'you gotta stop doing those
impressions,' and wanted me to sing in my own voice," Fator
says. "I tried it for a few weeks, and absolutely hated it. We
told the record company 'no thanks.'"
Fator left the band and
did a solo act combining comedy and ventriloquism but for many
years had little success. "Fairs would stick me on a little
stage in the back of fair and have me do three shows in the
hottest part of the afternoon," says Fator. "I had heat stroke
a couple of times, almost passed out."
In May 2007, before
appearing on America's Got Talent, Fator was performing at a
fair near Houston, Texas and the only spectator was a 12 year
old boy. Discouraged, Fator contemplated pursuing another
career, but his family encouraged him to hang in there. Terry
entered the America's Got Talent competition with the hope that
the exposure if he made it to the Top 20 might help his career
and cause people to want to attend his shows. But Fator says
the low point of his career was when he appeared at a 1,000
seat theater and had only one
customer.
Fator's success stems
from combining singing and ventriloquism. Fator had been the
lead singer in a band and often did impersonations of singers
Garth Brooks, Etta James, James Taylor and Dean Martin while
ventriloquism was just a comic side gig for Fator. In 2005
Fator decided to join his two talents, ventriloquism and
impersonations.[2] "I had one of my characters sing Garth
Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" and the audience went bananas,"
Fator says. "Boy, that was where my life changed." After his
initial success Fator revamped his act. "It took me six months
and I completely rewrote the show," says Fator. "It was then
that people really noticed and I started getting standing
ovations at the end of every show."
Before appearing on
America's Got Talent, Fator had almost given up on achieving
success in show business as a ventriloquist. "It wasn't easy
trying to keep going all these years, and by the time I was in
my late 30s, I wasn't sure it was ever going to happen," says
Fator.
On June 19, 2007, Fator
made his first national appearance on America's Got Talent.
Fator never dreamed that he would win the show. "Not in my
wildest dreams did I imagine I would win that show," says
Fator. "Essentially I auditioned because the guy that was the
ventriloquist the first season got on The Late Show with David
Letterman ... So I figured I'd do three episodes like he did
and end up on David Letterman." After winning the show Fator
actually had to turn the Letterman gig down four times before
he could appear. "My schedule got so packed, and it broke my
heart every time I had to turn him down," Fator
says.
When Fator first came
onstage judge David Hasselhoff said "Oh, no, a ventriloquist."
"I was thinking, there's no way I would win," Fator says. "I
gave myself zero percent chance." The judges, Piers Morgan,
Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff, loved Fator and he won
the competition. Judge Piers Morgan told Fator "You’re a great
impersonator, a great singer and a great comedian." "You put a
twist on the whole being a ventriloquist thing," added Judge
Sharon Osborne. Even Simon Cowell approved. "Simon Cowell said
I was one of the top two entertainers on the planet," says
Fator. "And getting a compliment from Simon Cowell, well, not
many people get a compliment like
that."
After Fator won the $1
million prize, he bought his wife an expensive wedding ring and
a dream house in Trophy Club, Texas near Dallas,
Texas.
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