There is a brand new celebrity reality show waiting in the wings for a late summer of 2006 debut. Celebrity Duets is a completely unscripted performance series that puts together famous singing stars with celebrities outside of the music business in order to create beautiful music together. The series is somewhat like American Idol in that it is a weekly elimination contest with both judges and viewers deciding who stays and who goes. The winning celebrity will be able to earmark a charity to receive the cash prize given at the series finale.

The shows executive producer is Simon Cowell and the production companies involved with the show are Simco and Fox Television Studios. FOX has released the names of some of the singing performers who will be pairing with non-singing celebrities on multiple duets throughout the season. The singers (mostly pop and country music stars) who have recently been confirmed for the series include such superstars as: Michael Bolton, Chaka Khan, Cyndi Lauper, Clint Black, Kenny Loggins, the former GoGo Belinda Carlisle, Brian McKnight, Macy Gray, Patti LaBelle, Lee Ann Womack, Smokey Robinson, Randy Travis, Dionne Warwick and Richard Marx. The non singing celebrities have not been announced, but the names will be released in the week before the premiere episode.

The show will follow the professional singers as they work with their non-singer partners both to choose the best songs, endure grueling practices and perform the duets live on stage in front of the judges panel and the live studio audience. Like American Idol and other performance based reality shows, Celebrity Duets will rely upon at-home viewers to vote through their favorite pairs and decide on the weekly elimination. The celebrities will each work with a different recording artist each week, and will receive mentoring and direction from each singer in order to prepare vocally and stylistically for each live performance on Thursday nights. Of course, the celebrity contestants will be afforded voice and performance training, as well as the services of stylists, hair and makeup artists. After the votes are determined, one celebrity will be eliminated on the Friday night show in a live elimination episode.

Famed composer, arranger and 14-time Grammy Award winner David Foster, who has worked with singing superstars Barbara Streisand, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Andrea Bocelli will be among the judges. Foster has been on other performance competition reality shows, including Nashville Star and American Idol. The Celebrity Duets finale will serve a great cause a currently undetermined substantial cash prize will be given the charity of the Celebrity Duets celebrity winners choice.

Find more out about Gene Simmons Family Jewels and the entire reality t.v. world at http://www.celebrity-duet-fox.com