Backstage at the Stay in School Concert sponsored in part by Southpole Clothing in NYC, ELLEgirl was able to chat with Making the Band winner Donnie Klang – who currently has his new album out in stores. Despite the newfound fame of the R&B artist, we thought Donnie was totally cool and laid-back! He even stuck around to chit-chat with ELLEgirl after all our questions were answered! Read on to find out if Donnie was popular—or went totally unnoticed—back in high school… - Claire Munoz
Donnie hangs out backstage at the Stay in School Concert
EG: How does it feel to be a part of this event?
DK: It feels good. I’m from New York, so whatever I can do to help out. I’ve known growing up how hard it is to keep kids in school. I’ve been in the best neighborhoods and the worst neighborhoods. And my mom never graduated high school so her dream for me was not to have me struggle the way she did – like paycheck to paycheck, and apartment to apartment. So I graduated, and I was able to turn our life around. So it’s very important to stay in school.
EG: What were you like back in high school?
DK: I was really into sports. I was really into music, also. I used to sing in groups, and around that time we would do the talent show and get made fun of. And [people would say], “Oh they’re trying to be N’Sync, they’re trying to be the Backstreet Boys,” but we just really tried to have fun. I guess everybody used to get mad because we used to take all the girls, because we were like the “boy-band” of the school or whatever!
EG: So you were popular, you would say!
DK: Yeah, I mean, kind of. I moved from Brooklyn to Long Island when I was 13 so it was kind of the middle when people already had their groups, so I was more the kid that was friends with everybody. And then I had my good friends, my best friends, and I just bounced around from group to group. I didn’t have one set group.
EG: Did you have a high school crush?
DK: Yeah, I had a girlfriend for all of 11th and 12th grades. But before that I was so pimp, or I thought I was pimp! I was still growing into my face and my ears and stuff!
EG: So as cool as you were, were there any embarrassing moments that you remember?
DK: Oh yeah, all the time! I was on the basketball team and at the end of every practice, you had to write down your name and how many free throws you took and how many you made. So everyday the kids would mess around and write like ‘Superman made 24 out of 25’ or ‘Batman made 23 out of 25’. And the one day nobody wrote anything, I wrote ‘Don K.’ and Coach comes up and he’s yelling at us, and he’s like, “Who wrote ‘Donk’ on the free throw list?” And I turned beet red and my friend was like, “Oh, that’s Donnie Klang, Coach!” And I was like oh my god! That was so embarrassing. I’m red right now probably!
Donnie and R&B sensation Ryan Leslie exchange digits backstage!
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