If you weren’t ready to compete in the 2010 and 2011 editions of Creston’s Best Singer, you have another shot when the contest returns next month. Up to 40 singers will compete at Prince Charles Theatre on Jan. 18, with the audience voting to send 20 on to the semifinals on Feb. 9.
“It’s exciting to bring the contest back to Creston,” said organizer Vern Gorham. “Local singers have been asking about it since the second contest ended in February.”
He’s kept busy in the meantime, though, with contests in Nelson and Grand Forks naming competitors to take part in the regional Kootenays’ Best Singer, which will run in the late spring — and Gorham has plans to run contests in Kimberley, Trail, Castlegar, Fernie, Golden and Invermere before that.
“Singers and audiences responded very well in Nelson and Grand Forks,” said Gorham. “Some amazing talent earned the top prizes in those contests — and I can’t wait to see who is discovered in the other towns.”
Many of the songs performed at the contest are sung to prerecorded tracks from Gorham’s arsenal of 20,000, all of which will be available for potential contestants to try out when he hosts karaoke night at the Snoring Sasquatch on Dec. 22 and 29 from 4-10 p.m.
“It’s an easy, safe way to try it out and see if you’ve got what it takes to compete,” he said.