Ouachita Stories

Howie Mandel called the trio a “real boy band” and Howard Stern labeled them “beautifully nerdy.” The results? Triple Threat earned a standing ovation and four “yes” votes from the celebrity judges for their audition performance on the May 26 season premiere of the popular NBC program, America’s Got Talent.

Triple Threat, a talented trio from Benton, Ark., includes two recent Ouachita Baptist University graduates, Tyler Davis and Will Richey, as well as Caleb Conrad, a student at the University of Arkansas. Following the group’s performance of MKTO's song "Classic,” they will be moving to the next round of competition as contestants battle for the show’s $1 million grand prize.

Davis and Richey both graduated from Ouachita on May 9 with Bachelor of Arts degrees. Davis majored in mass communications and Richey majored in music. Richey said he and Davis grew up singing in church together “since we were in about the third grade” and that the trio formed while they were in high school.

Explaining the group’s name during a 2013 interview with Ouachita’s campus newspaper, The Signal, Davis noted, “Well, first off, there are three of us. We wanted a name that sounded contemporary, but also had a meaning behind it. We came up with Triple Threat because our music has three common things: pure and tight harmonies, individual vocal talent and the ability to come up with creative and entertaining arrangements of popular songs.”

During the first few days since their appearance on America’s Got Talent, a video of their performance posted by KARK 4 News has gone viral with more than 5 million views – and that total continues to climb. Triple Threat’s previous performances posted on social media include “Hey Grude” which has almost 200,000 views on YouTube and “Never Yield,” featuring a cameo performance by American Idol Season 8 winner Kris Allen, with more than 100,000 views. The trio also has released a seven-song EP titled “Got It Covered.”

“We want to make a career out of this,” Conrad told the AGT judges, “and we think we can do it.” They definitely are off to a great start as millions of viewers across the nation discover the “beautifully nerdy” boy band from Arkansas.

By Trennis Henderson, OBU vice president for communications