Madeline Edwards will sing live on TV
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on March 8, 2007 1:51 PM
A young Goldsboro singer with the voice of an opera star won CBS-TV's The Early Show's "Living Room ... Live! Kids," national talent competition, the network announced this morning during the show.
Madeline Edwards, 11, a sixth-grade student at Eastern Wayne Middle School, won with 41 percent of the votes cast online and will perform live on national TV next Tuesday at the network studios in New York City.
Madeline, the daughter of Michael and Kelli Edwards, submitted a video of her singing "O Mio Babbino Caro," from an opera by Puccini to enter the competition. She advanced to the final round of the three-month competition against an 8-year-old Raleigh girl, Katherine Fritsch, who sang the "Star-Spangled Banner," and a teenage rock band from Oklahoma called Crooked X, who performed an original tune. After excerpts from the three finalists' videos were broadcast, the winner was announced by musician Adam Kontras, whose band had competed in a previous adult talent competition sponsored by the show.
For the past few months, three videos were selected weekly by producers of the show and broadcast. Viewers were encouraged to vote for their favorites.
Kontras called all three finalists "exceptional," and said to all three "You can do anything with this exposure."
Madeline, who has been performing since the age of 4, has said she aspires to become an opera singer.
Students in her classroom at Eastern Wayne erupted in cheers when the announcement was made.
"We're just thrilled," her father said this morning. "It's just very exciting." He said her family wanted to thank all the people who took time to vote for her.
"The community has been great, very supportive," he said.