Dorian Holley

Dorian Jose Holley is an American musician, backing singer, and a vocal coach. He began his professional career as a backing vocalist for Michael Jackson, who was one of the greatest entertainers of his era, during Jackson’s Bad world tour in 1987. Jackson staged a series of live concerts for audiences around the world including British royalty. Holley traveled with Jackson for all of his subsequent world tours. Holley performed with other artists such as Rod Stewart in 1991 and James Taylor in 1994 and since 2019. In 1991, Holley was the singing voice of Choir Boy in the Robert Townsend movie, The Five Heartbeats. Holley’s stage presence and vocal ability were praised by music critics during these performances.

Holley auditioned to become a featured vocalist on the reality television show Dancing with the Stars. He served in that capacity for the first three seasons of the American series and worked for several years as an associate music director and vocal coach for the singing competition show, American Idol. He worked there with the contestants before and after they appeared before the show’s judges and the worldwide television audience.

In 2008, Holley released his debut album, Independent Film. In 2009, he worked with Jackson for the last time, in preparation for the entertainer’s ill-fated concert series This Is It. Holley was to serve as a backing vocalist, as well as the vocal director for the shows. Jackson’s death forced the concerts to be canceled. In 2010, Holley host a weekend at the LA Music Academy called “The Art of the Audition”. As of 2011, he was the vocalist for the house band on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno led by Rickey Minor. He is also the Artist Development Director at Los Angeles Music Academy College of Music and teaches in the school’s vocal department. Dorian is married to trial attorney Shawn Holley, who has represented Jackson and been a chief legal correspondent for the E!, a tv network.

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