But it was Michelle's voice.
Dressed in red and black and barefooted, the 19-year-old Houma singing star belted a rendition of "Bring Me
To Life" during round one of the Hometown Stars singing competition Saturday near JC Penney in Southland Mall. Michelle's
performance impressed the judges and left the crowd in awe.
"I thought she was impressive," said 21-year-old Laurie-Anne Price, a Michelle fan. "She sounded exactly how
the lead singer (Amy) of Evanescence sings that song. She had a great stage presence too; it's not always about the vocal
abilities. She was simply better than a lot of the other singers performing today."
Michelle became one of 20 singers in the 18 and older age group who advanced to the second round of the singing
competition that will continue each Saturday for the next four weeks. The competition is modeled after the popular television
show "American Idol."
Thirty-six singers sang Top 40 hits before more than 700 spectators at Saturday's show, but a panel of judges
helped pare down the list nearly in half.
"I really didn't know what to expect because I didn't know how well everyone else was going to do," Michelle
said. "But I am very excited to be moving on, and I hope to do just as well in the next round."
Michelle will have two weeks to ponder her next performance. Next week's competition, from 1 to 4 p.m., will
feature the second round for contestants ages 10 to 17. The theme for the second round will be country music.
The 18 and older group will also sing country music tunes when they next take the stage on July 31 at 1 p.m.,
further narrowing the field of contestants. The singers who made the cut with Michelle were:
Joaquina Alvis of Houma, Kim Bellamy of Raceland, Tammy Bourgeois of Thibodaux, Cara Brunet of Houma, Joseph
Clay of Houma, Angelle Couvillon of Houma, Mike Dryden of Houma, Heather Gaudet of Houma, Rochelle Glipsy of Houma, LaDonna
Hampton of Houma, Adrian Harding of Gibson, Kenny Mooring of Houma, Raneta Nixon of Houma, Brittany Pujol of Thibodaux, Whitney
Sanchez of Thibodaux, Dana Shichsnider, Eugene Triggs Jr. of Schriever, Brandi Whitaker of Houma and Danielle Williams of
Houma.
Audience members can overrule judges and bring back one of the singers who did not make the cut, as a "wild-card"
contestant. Voters can choose their favorite by logging onto
"http://www.houmatoday.com/" and clicking on The Grapevine link then the Hometown Stars banner. The polls will be open from noon Monday through
noon Thursday.
For round two, Michelle plans to sing Lee Ann Womack's tender ballad "I Hope You Dance," a song that has garnered
numerous awards and topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart for more than 10 weeks in 2000.
"With a song like that, she should do extremely well and move the audience," said 23-year-old fan, Kenny Boudreaux.
"That's one of those songs that you can't go wrong with."
If Michelle wins Hometown Stars, she will receive a professional recording demo, a video produced and edited
by WWL-TV Channel 4 and will be invited to perform at Downtown Live After Five this fall.
Hometown Stars sponsors include Southland Mall, Guaranty Broadcasting, WWL, The Courier, Daily Comet and The
Grapevine. Saturday's show was also sponsored and co-hosted by KBZZ 96.7 FM.
