The Memphis Rascals wore tux jackets with rhinestones on the lapels and long pink ties with more rhinestones when they appeared on "Showtime at the Apollo" at the Apollo Theater in New York.

"I usually don't get nervous before performances, but I was nervous for that because I had just seen some people get booed off, crying and stuff," said Grant Vogelfanger, 15.

"Right before we went on, Anthony Anderson, the actor dude, goes, 'You're lucky you're the kid act because they blew off all the white people,'" said Witt McKay, 14. "When we first came out we could hear people going, 'What is this?'"

"When we did 'Love Potion,' they were all getting into it," said Jordan Cook, 16. "But the very first time we said, 'Shout,' the whole audience stood up."

"That was an awesome experience," Cook said.

"That's when we started getting really serious," McKay said.

They were chosen along with just a handful of others to be "Stars of Tomorrow" on "Showtime at the Apollo" after auditioning with more than 300 other acts last year at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

In 2003, Cindy Barrett of Germantown Performing Arts put the three guys together to sing in local competitions.

Cook remembered when he first auditioned for Barrett to perform at the Mid-South Fair Youth Talent Competition. He sang "Calypso" by John Denver. "She was like, 'OK, at the Fair this is the kind of number I would fall asleep in the middle of.' I was actually yodeling."

He moved on to "The Letter" by The Box Tops.

Vogelfanger began singing in public when he was 3. "At a Benihana's restaurant when they started singing 'Happy Birthday' in Japanese, I would just jump up and start singing with them," he said.

His sister danced at Germantown Performing Arts, but McKay was more into football. "Then one day after football practice she (Elizabeth Anne Brown, studio owner) asked me if I could sing," he said. "So, I was like, 'OK.' I sang 'Jingle Bells' or something. Me and Grant started harmonizing. Then the next day she (Barrett) threw Jordan in and we were in the Fair competition."

Wearing their rhinestones and pink ties, the group usually performed the "Fair medley" -- "CC Ryder," "Ruby Baby," "My Girl" and "I've Got to be a Rug Cutter."

After the Apollo, they recorded a medley of "Hold On I'm Comin'," "Love Potion No. 9" and "Shout."

When they made it to the top 35 on NBC's "America's Got Talent," they changed their stage look; they began wearing jeans, black T-shirts, pin-stripe jackets and American Eagle tennis shoes.

Since being on TV, they've added newer material. "We had been in this world of old songs and we were like, 'You know, we don't need to be doing this,'" Vogelfanger said. "People had been saying, 'We look at you and notice your tight harmony, but the songs ya'll are singing -- y'all are teeny bopper-looking people and that's not what we expect.'"

They also added instruments: guitars for Vogelfanger and McKay and bass for Cook.

Loni Reeder, manager/publicist for Richard Finch, the multi-Grammy Award winning producer/arranger/songwriter/ bassist and co-founder of the 1970's group KC and the Sunshine Band, was impressed with the Memphis Rascals' "America's Got Talent" performance and brought them to Finch's attention.

Finch recently produced the Memphis Rascals' single, "Boogie Shoes," a big hit for KC and the Sunshine Band that he co-wrote with Harry Wayne Casey in the '70s.

Finch, who described the Memphis Rascals as "very up-spirited and professional," said, "A lot of kids today are using Autotunes or some weird software correction. I'm looking for the real talent. These guys are it. These guys can actually sing and play everything they do. There's no trickery going on here. That's just a fresh, wonderful thing."

Through their agent, Lisa Lax, the Memphis Rascals met songwriter Trey Bruce, who's written for Faith Hill, Cary Underwood and Trace Adkins. They collaborated with Bruce on "Love Don't Have to Break" in Nashville. "It's about parents not understanding teenagers," Vogelfanger said.

"They're young, they're talented, their pop sensibilities for a rock band are bigger than most rock bands usually have," Bruce said.

"We're gonna try to bring back some of the soul in Memphis, but maybe make it more modernized," McKay said. "Maybe like soul/rock."

To hear music by this week's performer and view more pictures, go to commercialappeal.com and click on music.

Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

Memphis Rascals

4 p.m. Saturday on the main stage at Briarfest at Briarcrest Christian High School, 10103 E. Raleigh-LaGrange.