Stockton star heading for singing semi-finals (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Stockton star heading for singing semi-finals

6:03pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News By Chris Pleasance

A STARLET from Stockton has beaten hundreds of competitors and reached the regional finals of a UK-wide singing competition.

Eliza Mackenzie Dobson, 11, from Fairfield in Stockton, will perform Jessie J’s track Domino in the quarter finals of TeenStar at Newcastle’s Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre on March 23. The 1,100-capacity venue will be the largest she has ever performed in.

Eliza is one of 20 entrants left in the pre-teen category. If she wins she will have a chance of going through to the grand final in the O2 Arena in London.

Eliza said: “I do feel a little nervous but I’m also very excited.

“I love performing, I always have so I’m really pleased that I impressed the judges and was put through, now I’ve just got to work hard to make it through to the national finals.”

Eliza has already won the under-10s British Song and Dance Championships three years in a row, but turned her talents to singing after her mum Suzanne Wilson, 41, noticed the TeenStar competition online and decided to enter her daughter.

Ms Wilson said: “She loves performing on the stage and has attended classes since the age of three with Maloney Stage School in Middlesbrough.

“I think she wants to go on and do West End musicals. I took her to see Hairspray recently and she just loved it.”