Nine-year-old Kyah Allen has made it to the Fresh B.C. Talent Quest in the aged nine to 13 category. She’ll be competing on May 2 in Penticton. She’ll be singing, but she also plays piano. Her teacher, Leslee Hatherly, is the mother of singer Kansas-Lee, who has left Osoyoos for Victoria. Two years ago Hatherly began teaching Allen and she says she recognized in her the same kind of talent she saw in her own daughter. (Richard McGuire photo)
Kyah Allen is only nine, but already she dreams of following in the steps of Taylor Swift and becoming a pop and country star.
Allen competed earlier this month in the initial round of Fresh B.C. Talent Quest and won a spot in the May 2 semi-finals after performing two songs.
For the past two years Allen has been going through rigorous vocal and piano training by Osoyoos music teacher Leslee Hatherly.
Hatherly, who is the mother of well-known Osoyoos singer-songwriter Kansas-Lee, was impressed by Allen’s voice when she heard her singing at age six.
A year later, she agreed to take her on as a student.
“I hadn’t heard anybody that good since my darling Kansas,” said Hatherly, adding that her daughter, now 21, recently moved to Victoria to pursue her music career.
“When I heard Kyah, I said to Kansas, ‘I finally found somebody to replace you. You can move to Victoria now, darling,’” she said.
Allen hasn’t yet had many opportunities to perform for a large audience, but Hatherly is working to change that, encouraging her to try.
She’s sung the national anthem at five Osoyoos Coyote hockey games as well as a recent benefit game in Oliver.
Coyotes’ owner Randy Bedard is impressed by Allen’s talent.
“She has a great voice and she’s mature for her age,” said Bedard. “She’s a little cutie actually. She’s probably nine going on 29. She’s a very talented little girl and is going to enjoy the spotlight as she gets older.”
Hatherly said she’s going to encourage Allen to sing at Market on Main this summer.
“She’s not at the point where she could do a one-hour set by herself, but I’d love to call on some of the entertainers and see if they would bring her up,” she said.
Hatherly sang professionally and taught music full time until she moved to Osoyoos from Surrey nearly a decade ago.
She now has a few adult students, but she’s particular about whom she teaches and Allen is her only child student.
She teaches Allen a wide range of music from musicals to opera to country and pop, aiming to teach an appreciation of music as well as a range of skills from microphone technique to stage presence.
Allen isn’t shy about her ultimate goal.
“I want to be famous,” she proclaimed, adding that she wants to be a country and pop star rather than an opera singer.
Allen claims she has been singing since she could talk and was first exposed to music while she was still in the womb.
“When I was in my mom’s stomach, my dad would always sing me songs and play the guitar,” she said.
Allen sang two songs at the Opus Café – Bistro in Penticton on April 11 to earn a spot in the Fresh B.C. Talent Quest semi-final in the nine to 13 age group. The semi-final event takes place at Orchard House Theatre in Penticton at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.
Her two songs were I Hope You Dance, a country-pop song made popular by Lee Ann Womack, and Hallelujah, a traditional song.
These are two “power ballads,” and Allen went straight from the Womack song to Hallelujah, changing singing styles, Hatherly said.
“It takes a lot out of you,” she added. “It was fabulous.”
Whether or not Allen does well in the upcoming competition, it’s likely her voice will be heard again in Osoyoos and beyond.
“I always thought to myself that success in the music business is making a living at it, not becoming famous,” said Hatherly. “Becoming famous may or may not be. I made a great living at it, just like I want to see my daughter do it and Kyah do it as well if she’s so inclined. She’s still very young, but she’s got the talent to do it.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Nine-year-old Kyah Allen has made it to the Fresh B.C. Talent Quest in the aged nine to 13 category. She’ll be competing on May 2 in Penticton. She’ll be singing, but she also plays piano. Her teacher, Leslee Hatherly, is the mother of singer Kansas-Lee, who has left Osoyoos for Victoria. Two years ago Hatherly began teaching Allen and she says she recognized in her the same kind of talent she saw in her own daughter. (Richard McGuire photo)
