A Cwmbran High School pupil who has been singing since she started talking is auditioning for Britain’s Got Talent.
Melissa Carter, who performs as Lissa C, is a regular at gigs in pubs, open mic and karaoke nights, and at events across South Wales. The 15-year-old has won multiple competitions and features in the latest Newport Voice magazine.
I met her a few days ago at her brother’s house, where at just gone 10am, her mum kindly served me a cream bun and a cup of tea.
Express my emotions
Melissa said: “As soon as I could talk, I started singing really. I just loved singing. It’s a fun thing to do because music is a way to express yourself, and sometimes people have no other way of expressing themselves. Through music, I feel I can express everything, my emotions that I can’t express any other way.
“I look up to Billie Eilish and Finneas, her brother, because he writes all her songs and is amazing, Kate Bush and Olly Murs.
“I look up to them because they’re really good in the art that they make in their music, and they tell stories with their lyrics. And they express their feelings through their music.
“So it’s not just like the feeling of the songs, it’s the way the song is built, and you understand the lyrics and can relate to it.”
I asked her to tell me her favourite song to sing.
Wuthering Heights
She said: “My gigs always involve the one Kate Bush song, the Wuthering Heights. People absolutely love it because they’re shocked when I’m singing because of the highness of the range.
“My mum is great. She drives me everywhere, she brings my sister Tasha along and she sets up my equipment. “
Michell Carter, her mum, said: “She used to dress up as Elsa and stand on the stool and sing ‘Let It Go’ [from Disney film Frozen]. I’m very proud. Just the progress she has made over the past year. She’s had a vocal coach, Paul Cook. He’s very good and has shown her techniques. He’s worked wonders with her, and so proud to see how she’s grown.
“Her brother, Daniel, bought her a busking speaker. We came here [to Daniel’s house] and she sang here live. Her videos [online] don’t do nothing for her to be quite truthful. He didn’t realise how good she was, so he bought her a new busking speaker.”
Her Britain’s Got Talent audition is in September at The Kia Oval. She said she was looking forward to it, but not the “long queues.”