sallymcvegas's "My Favorite Karaoke Songs"

I am a girl who, just like her late mother, is a tenor. I have never taken voice lessons but I have always had near-perfect relative pitch. I have a lot of friends who are professional musicians who tend to wince when I start singing because my voice is untrained, although they concede that I am always on key.

Two years ago I started working with a husband and wife who are big karaoke gurus and they peer-pressured me into singing with them. Even though they are professional-caliber singers they are very supportive of my voice performance self-study. I find karaoke exhilarating, kind of like the social-anxiety equivalent of bungee-jumping, and anyone who thinks it is only for total dorks or for people who have had a lot to drink should give it a try whilst sober, in a crowd of strangers if that makes you feel less self-conscious. Like the "American Idol" judges say often, it’s all about song selection-sing a song you know well and that fits your range and singing style and you will almost certainly not embarrass yourself. I.e., if you have my range, don’t try to sing Whitney Houston songs-stick to Roy Orbison and Courtney Love!

These are songs I have sung in public that have generated compliments from strangers on my performance.