March 15, 2004 -- TYRA Banks is serious when she says she wants to be a singer.
On next Sunday's episode of "American Dreams," she plays the lead singer of The Velvettes - an early '60s Motown girl group - in one of the show's signature "American Bandstand" segments.
Tyra is also the host and producer of "America's Next Top Model," the hit reality show on UPN where women compete for a big-money modelling contract.
Last month, Banks told the "Top Model" contestants that she had been secretly preparing to make her singing debut - and that the young women would appear in her first video.
Banks, who is 30, says singing - and producing TV shows - will likely be her new career when she gives up the runway.
Recreating the look and sound of The Velvettes is an unusual choice because the group is so little known today. Their hits included "Needle in a Haystack" and "He Was Really Saying Something" (the song Tyra sings).
