NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Platinum-selling country artist Terri Clark made her debut on the Late Show with David Letterman last week. However, she wasn’t performing her new single, Getting There, from the hit Mercury CD, Fearless. Clark’s first appearance on the late night show was taking turns filling empty seats in the audience.
“After years of managers and publicists trying to get me on the show, I finally made my debut — as a seat filler,” Clark said. “They sat us in the nosebleed section in folding chairs. We were given free tickets but didn’t know we would be the seat fillers, which are designated people to sit in the empty seats when audience members get up during breaks.”
Clark decided to attend the Letterman taping during an afternoon break from her U.S. and Canadian tour, Fearless 2001, which runs through November. The Canadian native was in the middle of a two-week swing through New York, Maine, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, playing 11 shows in 12 days.
While fulfilling her role as a seat filler, one of the security guards
came up to Clark and asked, “Don’t I know you? You look so familiar. Aren’t you a pro-basketball player?” Clark laughed and kept watching the show.
“We just decided to take a break and went to see if we could get in to watch a taping. Let me just say this, being a seat filler is the last thing I thought I would be doing the first time that I was in that studio … a humbling experience indeed,” Clark said with a laugh. “It was a lot of fun, but maybe next time I’ll have a better seat.”
Clark was nominated last week for six Canadian Country Music Association Awards, which will be awarded in Calgary on September 10.
