Island Worker Advances in Singing Contest
By Leslie Rott

Cesilee Dean with the certificate she was awarded as a quarter-finals winner in the America’s Rising Star competition held in Seymour, Tennessee. She will compete in the semi-finals in November.

For many people who compete in singing, their life-long dream is to make it big and win a recording contract. For Cesilee Dean, her quest for a contract happened almost completely by accident.

In February, the 22-year-old Lake Superior State University student went to Kewadin Casino in St. Ignace with some friends and participated in a karaoke contest .

After winning that contest and $50, the casino invited her back for the America’s Rising Stars karaoke competition March 26, in which Ms. Dean took first place and was awarded an all-expenses-paid trip for two for five nights to Tennessee for the quarter-finals, plus $500 spending money.

On June 30, Ms. Dean was one of the top six winners at Big Mama’s Karaoke Cafe in Seymour, Tennessee, and will advance to the semi-finals in November. Sixteen contestants competed in the quarter-finals and judges rated them for vocal ability, stage presence, crowd response, and overall performance.

She will head back to Seymour, Tennessee in November to compete for a spot in the final round of the America’s Rising Stars Karaoke Competition and the chance to win a recording contract in Nashville, worth $50,000.

Ms. Dean said that she has no previous musical training and entered the competition on the advice of friends.

“It just kind of happened,” Ms. Dean said. “I like to sing in the car, in the shower.”

“I think she has an unbelievable talent,” said long-time friend and roommate Angela Powers. Ms. Powers said that she thinks Ms. Dean could “go all the way” in the competition, and friends have been trying to help her get over her stage fright.

“She is a lot better than she gives herself credit for,” Ms. Powers said of her friend.

“I don’t think my voice is anything special, anything different from anybody else,” Ms. Dean countered. She said she enjoys singing rhythm and blues music and soulful rock music, such as Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” which she sang at the quarter-finals.

Despite her trepidation, she said that the competition has helped her control her stage fright and she is grateful for the opportunities presented by the competition.

“It’s a very cool experience,” she added.

She grew up in St. Ignace, is a 2000 graduate of LaSalle High School, and is working her fifth summer at the Mackinac Island branch of the First National Bank of St. Ignace.