One Shining Moment Gets An Update
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
Since 1987, the NCAA men's basketball tournament on CBS has concluded with a video montage backed up by David Barrett's original song "One Shining Moment."
Barrett sang the song for the first decade before his voice was replaced by Teddy Pendergrass and then Luther Vandross.
This year's rendition will sound a little bit different as it was voiced by Grammy and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson.
"I absolutely love it," said Barrett, who was there was Hudson recorded it last month. "It gave me goosebumps."
Barrett said that he's not allowed to play the Hudson version for anyone, but can say that it has a little bit of a different vibe, including a 50-person gospel choir.
But fans of the song won't think it's completely different.
"We still have the horns, the organ and the string section," Barrett said.
Barrett said he's not sure how the financial arrangement will work out should Hudson's version take off more than the standard version, which is an iTunes cult classic of sorts (I admit it, it's on my workout mix).
The deal is being structured with Hudson's label Sony and with her producer Harvey Mason Jr., who actually played for the 1988 Arizona team that reached the Final Four that year.
Barrett says he's humbled that the song has lasted nearly a half of a century.
"I just write songs," said Barrett, whose last project was writing the soundtrack for a PBS documentary on Herbert Hoover. "This one has just been charmed."
