Orca and Mark McGrath.Photo: FOX; Gabe Ginsberg/Getty
This post contains spoilers from Wednesday’s season premiere ofThe Masked Singer.
Mark McGrathkilled it as a killer whale onThe Masked Singerseason 5, but unfortunately not for long enough to proceed to the Super 8.
The Sugar Ray frontman, 53, got unmasked as Orca on Wednesday’s episode of the reality singing competition. But still, “it was such an incredible experience being part of theMasked Singerfamily, from the second we took the first Zoom meeting to the second I was eliminated,” McGrath, whoentered in week 3as the show’s first-ever wildcard contestant, tells PEOPLE. “I took off my Orca costume for the last time and I almost started crying. You get emotionally involved in this thing.”
Viewers saw that when the formerExtrahost choked up Wednesday night after dedicating his performance of Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” to his late father.
“My dad was my hero,” McGrath, a father himself to 10-year-old twins Hartley and Lydon, recalls. “He wasn’t into music, but my dad was the biggest supporter of our band since day one. There was no bigger fan.”
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McGrath’s final clue package also featured his dad (as a mustached Orca!), and luckily for the formerCelebrity Apprenticeparticipant,Masked Singercontestants don’t get to see the videos beforehand. “I’m glad I didn’t see before I performed because I would have been a wreck,” he admits.
The “Fly” singer talks coming in as a wildcard contestant, trying to rock out as Orca and getting back on tour now that he received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Why did you want to go onThe Masked Singer?The show scared the living hell out of me, if I can be so blunt. Because, ironically, it’s a singing competition. And yes, I make my living as a singer/entertainer, but no one has ever confused my voice with Pavarotti orChris Cornell. The mask is the reason why I went into it. I said, “Well, maybe I can throw some people off. I can do songs maybe that are normally out of my wheelhouse. The costume will bring me up, which it certainly did.” Even at my age, things that scare you, you must do.
What did your kids think of you doing the show?I’ve got 10-year-old twins too that just were blown away. They’re so blown away. We watched the first, you know, my first performance, you know, they go, “Orca’s cool. Yeah, Orca is really cool. Yeah, he’s really cool.”
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FOX
You’re known for your ’90s hits, but you performed two ’80s songs. Was that a conscious choice?The first thing I wanted to do, I said, “You know what, I just need to dig into my bag of tricks and things that are at least in my wheelhouse.” I don’t think people look at Sugar Ray as a hard rock band. Certainly not the radio songs and certainly not the music most people have heard. Though the origin of this band comes from a hard rock background, so it’s something I can do. And I said, “Let’s come out with ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It.’ Everybody loves it. And I think people won’t think it’s me singing it.” That was kind of the idea. I wasn’t going to throw my voice or try and change my voice because it is what it is. So I just went full bore rock and roll. I didn’t know about the wildcard.
When did you find out?As I was walking up, they go, “By the way, you’re a wildcard. We’re not having a C group.” I’m like, “What?” They keep everybody in the dark. That wildcard thing kind of surprised me.
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In your first clue package, you talked about delivering your audition tape in pizza boxes. Looking back, can you believe that worked?We thought we were the biggest geniuses in the world. We made a video and we sent it to everybody. And [music producer] Rick Rubin called us back and said, “Listen, I love the pizza box idea. Do you guys want to come work for my street marketing team?” And we’re like, “We’re trying to be a band.” Luckily, it got in the hands of some other guy at Atlantic Records and we got a record deal because of the pizza box.But come to find out 20, 30 years later, the pizza box idea is not a unique idea. Rami Malek, he did that for his audition tape back in the day. And I watched a corporate speech for a bunch of advertisers. I told them of the pizza box story. And this guy in the audience raises his hand. He goes, “Yeah. We call that Sorry Advertising 101.” It’s been done a million times but we were the first people to do it. It was a stroke of genius back then that people picked up on.
What’s next for you? In February, youtweetedthat you’d be interested in hostingJeopardy!I threw my name out there to hostJeopardy!, [had] a couple of my fans saying, “You’d be great.” But let’s just say, I didn’t hear from theJeopardy!folks. It was a long shot. As the three-timeRock & Roll Jeopardy!champion, I thought I would qualify. But they had different ideas. That’s the gig everybody who has ever hosted a show in the world wanted to get. And no one will ever be as good as Alex [Trebek]. But I love the show and my mom loves the show too.
But you have started performing live shows again with concerts in Florida this month.We’re so grateful to be getting back on the road. We’re vaccinated, things are opening up and we’re getting back to normal. You notice a change. People are socially distancing and everybody’s being safe and doing their thing and wearing masks. But it’s still rock and roll. It’s still live entertainment. And we will get back to where we need to be, slowly but surely. It’s going to be a new normal for sure, but I’m looking forward to getting back out there and playing. Once you’ve been on stage, it’s just electrifying. I’m so grateful to be up there.
The Masked Singerairs Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on Fox.
source: people.com
