Shelly Chase was last Sunday night crowned queen of karaoke in the inaugural Lime Barbados Karaoke 2010 Contest.
In her first appearance, she sang I Believe In You And Me, made popular by Etta James.
In her second appearance, she did Listen (a Beyonce composition) and her final song was I’m Telling You by Jennifer Hudson.
For her efforts, the first time competitor, who defeated several seasoned campaigners, took home the first prize of $5 000, along with a professional recording contract from Pyramid Entertainment, a 32-inch flat screen television, and the opportunity to represent Barbados in the upcoming Caribbean Karaoke Competition.
Second was Kevin Forde, who fell down a bit in his first song One in A Million, but came back strong in his final two deliveries.
Mary Clarke was third, probably handicapped by a flu bug. But she gave sterling performances in her renditions of The Wedding Song, Bridge Over Troubled Waters and You’re The Best Thing, made popular by Gladys Knight & The Pips.
Speaking backstage after her win, an elated but exhausted Chase said that it was her first time in such a competition and she was extremely happy to have won.
“Right now, I feel ecstatic! I did not come here to just compete, but to win despite the many challenges I faced along the way.”
Chase said she expected stiff competition from Mary Clarke, whom she singled out as the person she feared the most.
“Even although the majority of the other competitors were really good, I felt Mary was the one I had to beat.”
The Husbands, St James resident said she was planning to use some of her winnings to advance her singing career.
“I want to move to the next level. My aim is to make singing a career so things like voice training, diction, [and] stage performance will be high on my list of priorities to help me reach a higher level.”
Manager of Pyramid Entertainment Inc. and organiser of the show, Tony Hoyos, said he was extremely happy with the quality of the show and the support from the public.
“We did have a few hitches along the way as would be expected with a show of this magnitude, but overall it was a total success. Plans are already on the drawing board to make next year’s event even bigger and better.
“One of the things we will change for next year’s show will be the number of qualifying rounds,” Hoyos said.
“The show started on April 16 and ended with [Sunday night’s] final after 20 qualifying rounds. Five months is way too much, and we are proposing to shorten the competition over a two-month period while increasing the number of prizes.”
