Look out Simon, move over Paula and Sass, York’s own talent judges are ready to discover a future star on campus.
Debbie Hansen, senior advisor, Employee Relations, Rob Castle, executive director of the York Student Centre, and Sylvia Schippke, assistant vice-president, student community development, will join professional talent scouts in a home-grown version of the popular Idol singing contest. It will be held between Jan. 12 and Jan. 26 at the Underground. The York Idol team has persuaded industry experts Tom Kemp of talent agency S.L. Feldman & Associates (Jan. 19) and David Worthington and Mike Fox of EMI/Virgin Music (Jan. 26), to offer their comments on the performances.
Registered York students are being invited to audition for the competition, which is sponsored by York is U, the Student Centre, Excalibur and TravelCuts. Auditions will be held at the Underground on Wednesday, Jan. 12 & 19, at 8pm with the finals set for Wednesday, Jan. 26. Members of the entire York community are invited to attend to cheer on their favourite competitors – a recommended strategy since winners are determined by audience voting. The competition is open to solo, non-professional performers only.
Competitors can sign up online for an audition time by visiting the Underground’s Web site for the York Idol Online Entry Form. The first 20 students to sign up are guaranteed a spot. After that, approximately 30 contestants will be chosen at random. Detailed contest information is available on the Web site or in suite 335 of the Student Centre.