By Alesha Capone
WERRIBEE teenager Rebecca Closter was born to sing.
The music-lover began singing lessons when she was eight years old, and has been in several productions and competitions since then.
She also starred in the 3AW 693 Cultural Encouragement Awards at the Wyndham Cultural Centre on the weekend.
Rebecca has weekly singing lessons at the Green Room Studios in Werribee, and entered the show at the urging of her vocal coach Kylie Pearson.
Although the 15-year-old often gets people who compliment her singing, she remains modest about her talent.
“I’m just kind of like, ‘I’m not that good’. I just love music and the way it can touch everyone,” Rebecca, 15, said.
“You can each people in a different way and I enjoy it. It comes from my heart.”
When Rebecca was young, she would sing for her great-grandmother, who lived in a nursing home.
The other resident’s loved hearing her voice so much, Rebecca began to put on concerts for them during her school holidays.
At the age of 12, she also performed in The Sound of Music and Annie at the Altona City Theatre.
“At my first audition I was really nervous, I didn’t know what to expect,” Rebecca said.
“Now I know so I’m more confident, because you’re only singing in front of a panel of two to three people usually.”
Rebecca, who attends MacKillop College in Werribee, has also been in school musicals, her church choir and has taken part in the Werribee Young Idol contest at the Weerama Festival for the past four years.
“The most challenging thing is, when you have people who have to judge you, that can be daunting,” Rebecca said.
“Whether I get nervous depends on the size of the crowd.”
“After the first song I think, ‘Just keep singing’.”
Rebecca said she hoped to one day work in the music industry, possibly as a professional singer or teacher.
