Photo: Justin Hoskins, last year’s McDonald’s R&B Soul Search winner

The next McDonald’s R&B Soul Search winner may have been at the first set of open auditions that took place Saturday afternoon at the Loft.

Dozens of contestants came out to audition in front of Niecy Davis of WFUN-FM (Foxy 95.5) and Staci Static of WHHL-FM (Hot 104.1), putting their best a capella voices forward for a one-song contract with Sony.

There was a brief hiccup initially. The regular audition room at the Loft was booked with another event when the Soul Search crew arrived, moving the audition into a corridor outside the bathrooms.

But the initial audition still got underway better than expected.

There was the usual mix of the good, the bad and the ugly among the first batch of singers, though overall they seemed more promising than what was presented at this same point last year.

Those who made it through Saturday for a slot in the first competition show on May 30 are Robert Shepard, Naisha Bailey, TaRodney Frazier, Roselita Horton, Crystal Hatcher, Ashley Johnson, Billy Hendrix, Nikki Pye, Steven Lee, Julius Brown, Kimyetta Huffmann, and Robbyn Hightower.

Alternates for the first week are Junoral McClerking and DeAngelo Davis.

The next audition is noon Saturday at the Loft, followed by the final audition May 24. Those contestants will fill slots for the June 6 and June 13 competitions, culminating at the June 27 finale.

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