Reigan scores touchdown for Idol
By HELEN GANSKA
14may06

IT seems like all but one of the 2000-odd people who turned out last Sunday for Channel 10's Australian Idol auditions were wasting their time.

Reigan Derry, 17, of Maida Vale, appears to have the competition sewn up.

By the time of her second appearance, on Tuesday, judges Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Mark Holden were racing for superlatives.

"Best overall package I have seen all year," Sandilands said.

Holden: "Whoa – awesome, awesome."

Hines: "Great voice, your voice is whole."

Reigan sang I Know You By Heart by Eva Cassidy, combined with Life Ain't Easy by Cleopatra, which drew rapturous responses and had Holden predicting "global success" for the teenager, even before the real competition begins on Channel 10 in August.

Two thousand hopefuls turned up at Ascot racecourse for the first round on Sunday and, on Tuesday 52 wannabe Idols gave their all in front of the judges at Observation City.

From that process 11 were selected to go to Idol boot camp in Sydney in July.

Reigan already has two jobs, as a receptionist and waitress, and agrees that her schedule is going to be very busy.

She said she wasn't aware of the auditions until she was prompted to try out by someone who had heard her sing at church.

"I am always singing, though," Reigan said. "I have been singing since I can remember and singing at church with my family is what I remember most."

She listens to and sings music from the 1960s, a little bit of progressive metal, opera, classical and contemporary jazz and has studied opera for the past three years with Perth singer Elisa Wilson.

She admitted to being nervous at the first auditions.

"My face was shaking and my knees were shaking and I was so nervous," she said.

The audition on Tuesday was equally nerve-racking.

"The walk back from the judges was so long," she said. "I was trying to stay calm, but when I saw my mum and my boyfriend I just yelled, `I'm going to Sydney'."

Source: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,7034,19126098%255E2761,00.html