By Nicole Schmidt
In a bidding war for season five winner of NBC’s The Voice, Tessanne Chin, to perform her first song in Canada, Toronto millionaires offered up big bucks. Ryerson’s own Raymond Chang joined the race, matching a bid of $10,000 according to The Toronto Star.
Chang, a former chancellor at Ryerson and Toronto philanthropist, donated $5 million to fund the school of continuing education — more commonly known as the Chang School.
On her first tour of the country, Chin wasn’t scheduled to sing in Canada. But some impromptu bidders were hoping to change this.
The bidding started at $1,000 and soon moved up to $4,000, where it plateaued. Michael Lee-Chin, another Toronto philanthropist, joked about the price being “too low” and surprised everyone with a bid of $10,000 for one song — which was later matched by Chang.
Lee-Chin topped the bid, offering an additional $20,000 if Chin would sing a third song — a final price tag of $40,000.
Chin, flattered by the offers, performed in a spur of the moment show at a banquet at the Ritz ballroom. Since there was no band present, she sang a cappella.
Both Chang and Lee-Chin are originally from Jamaica — Chin shares the same background. Both philanthropists are also former business rivals, which made the bidding war that much more competitive.
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