Anthony White, director of the Detroit Youth Choir, at the choir’s rehearsal space inside Marygrove Conservancy David Guralnick, The Detroit News
It only takes one person to believe in you to set your life on a more positive course.
Michiganians of the Year
That's what actor and host Terry Crews told the kids and faculty of the Detroit Youth Choir during one of their many appearances on the NBC reality competition "America's Got Talent." Those who know him say Anthony White, the choir's artistic director, is that one person for so many.
White is one of The Detroit News' 2023 Michiganians of the Year for his commitment to enriching the lives of Detroit's youth through the nonprofit organization. Not affiliated with any public or private schools, the DYC teaches and develops students through music education, dance and theatrical arts.
While White has been with the 27-year-old organization since 2001, it was only recently that the name Detroit Youth Choir became known nationally. White got the group on the stage of "America's Got Talent," a prime-time show that can turn an unknown singer, comedian, dance troupe or ventriloquist into a Las Vegas headliner.
The confidence in his students, his faith in others and his own perseverance and relentless drive are what propels White and the DYC to succeed. Those who know White said it's his sky's-the-limit attitude that got them to a national stage like "AGT."
Daniel Valentine has seen it firsthand as both a student and a member of the organization. He joined the program as an unsure seventh-grader in 2007, volunteered there after high school and is now the program director. Valentine had a front-row look at how White transformed the organization over the years, partially by being inclusive.
"Sometimes the arts can be an elitist kind of thing ... subjective on talent, but Mr. White has always believed in giving chances to anybody who wanted one. If you were dedicated and you were willing to show up, he would give you a chance. He believes in fairness; he believes in chances."
White sees the diamonds in the rough, and strives to give every kid who wants to be in the choir a chance to blossom. Valentine says that with the exception of 2020 because of the pandemic, they try not to turn any students away.
"That's not necessarily the case in other performing arts spaces," Valentine said. "So for a guy like me, when I was 13 years old, I wasn't confident in who I was. I wasn't necessarily shy, but I didn't know my voice. I didn't know I could potentially do this for a living."
White is a graduate of Marygrove College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in music, and a few years ago, he moved the Detroit Youth Choir to the campus. Using the very same rooms he studied music in during college, he now practices and records music with the DYC and fine-tunes the different choirs (there are three: Limelight, Prime Time and Center Stage).
"Being here is very nostalgic for me," White said. "It takes me back to my college years. I was a seven-year music student, full-time, that meant that I took all my music classes and general ed classes separate. But I was up under a great director and mentor, Ellen Duncan. But just to be here in this space is amazing.
"They come here and think it's just a big castle," he added of the choir students. "They don't understand that it's actually a 100-year-old college. A lot of people got their degrees from here, and if you got your degree from here, you were something."
The Detroit Youth Choir is one of several tenants renting space at Marygrove — which is now the nonprofit Marygrove Conservancy after the college closed in 2019. This gives the students a place away from their own schools to gather as its own separate thing.
"A lot of people (see us and) say, 'What school is this?'" says White. "We are not a school. We are a nonprofit, which constantly needs funding, and I'm just happy to be the artistic director for it."
Valentine said White is definitely a father figure for a lot of the choir members, and is firm but fair.
"Just like any father, any old-school dad, he's probably strict, he's probably straight-to-business, but he probably also has a really goofy side, and that is Mr. White," Valentine said. "When we're in rehearsal, that's the priority, and that is known among the students. But when it's not rehearsal time, he's as silly as they come."
What keeps White motivated, he said, is seeing what the "end game" is going to be for these young people.
"Is it going to be college? Is it going to Broadway? Is it going to be the workforce?" he said, adding that nearly all the students in the Detroit Youth Choir go to college. "Your student moves through our organization, they're graduating and they're going to a college. And they'll most likely get a full ride."
White said the DYC partners with a few schools, such as Olivet College, to usher kids along and help carve a path after high school.
On their many broadcast television appearances on the NBC show, which averages more than 6 million live and same-day viewers, the Detroit Youth Choir was given a platform to showcase their uplifting talent, singing their versions of popular songs while dancing in unison. The kids even got to take the stage with Weezer, joining the band in performing the chart-topping 2005 song "Beverly Hills."
While the group never took home the $1 million prize, support from the show's host, Flint native Crews, catapulted them to the finals in 2019 by making them his "golden buzzer" pick. Crews did the same in 2023 when the DYC returned to the show for the "All-Stars" series, where they also made the finals.
It doesn't stop there. Soon White and the Detroit Youth Choir will be the subjects of a six-part, unscripted docuseries on Disney Plus called "Choir," which will follow the kids as they prepare for a performance at Carnegie Hall. It's in part produced by Blumhouse, the film production company that produced "Whiplash," "BlacKkKlansman" and several popular horror films. "Choir" will debut in June at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Even underneath the national spotlight, Valentine said his mentor still chooses choir members based on character, rather than talent alone.
"You would think now ... he could go for the best of the best of the best, but that's not who he is," Valentine said. "He always prioritized character and who you are over what you already have."
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @melodybaetens
Anthony White
Age: 43
Occupation: Artistic director and president of the Detroit Youth Choir
Education: Bachelor of Arts in music from Marygrove College
Family: Wife Nequan White and daughter Shyel White, 14
Why honored: For putting the Detroit Youth Choir on the national map and helping kids achieve their goals