A LOCAL teenager, under the guidance of a Melksham music producer, is just one round away from the national Teenstar final at the NEC Birmingham.
Izzy Felstead is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Melksham singer Courtney Buchanan who last year made it to the Teenstar Final 2013 which was held at the O2 Arena.
The success of Courtney and now Izzy has been under the guidance of producer Mel Austin who has helped her with her recordings at his Beanacre studio.
Izzy who only turned 13 last weekend will perform in an area final in Fareham on Saturday 10th May. She will be in the pre-teen category and if successful, will go through to the grand final at the NEC. She is down to approximately 125 artists from an estimated 2,000 that started across the country at the start of the competition.
She is at this stage after impressing judges with her cover of London Grammar’s song ‘Strong’ at the regional final which also took place in Fareham.
Mel Austin said, “She has done amazingly well. She was also watched by a producer friend of mine, Duncan Lefeuvre of Gravel Track Records, who was impressed enough to offer his support free of charge for any original material she may want recorded.
“Courtney Buchanan, last year’s TeenStar finalist, came along to lend her support – she performed in Fareham twice during last year’s competition and has been supporting Izzy at The Pilot gigs.”
Teenstar area finalist Izzy said, “I am really pleased to have got this far and now I want to get even further. There was about 300 people watching the regional final and I was nervous but once I started, I really enjoyed it.
“Courtney has been a huge help and I hope to achieve what she did by reaching the national final. I enjoy singing things like London Grammar, Warwick Avenue by Duffy and with the help of Mel I have also written my own song which I hope to perform at some point in the competition.
“My dream is to become a professional singer and perform for a living.”
Izzy’s proud father Julian Felstead said, “We are really proud of her, she has performed very well and we will keep supporting her all the way. Izzy has come a long way from when she started – she only performed at The Pilot for the first time at the end of last year, the support from Mel and Courtney has been great.”
