YTV’s Next Star? Brooklyn Roebuck is gunning for it

Chatham’s Brooklyn Roebuck is excited about cracking the top 12 on YTV’s show “The Next Star”.

The 14-year-old singer received her golden ticket after beating out other hopefuls at a tryout held in Montreal.

“It’s great,” she said. “It’s hard to believe this is actually going on, I don’t think it’s going to kick in until a little while later. I’m really happy this happened… I really tried my hardest so it paid off.”

Roebuck says she was hoping to try out last year, but a bout of laryngitis prevented her from entering.

This time around she was good to go.

“There had to of been 300 people in Montreal,” she said. “I got to meet the judges and they were all very nice. So now I have my golden ticket and I’ll be going off to Toronto and meeting the rest of the top 12… it’s going to be crazy.”

Before she ever got involved with singing, Roebuck says she used to watch her Dad and Grandpa locally at the Mitchell’s Bay singing contest.

“That’s actually what started my singing and how much I loved it,” she said. “My Dad and my Grandpa used to go in it all the time and they would get trophies. So, I kind of wanted a trophy myself, so I practiced, and practiced and practiced and it kind of happened. So that’s how I got into singing.”

Roebuck says she describes her singing style as country music, with a mix of R & B.

“Country music is in my blood,” she said. “My grandma and grandpa have been in a country band for about 40 years.”

She also idolizes several young female country music stars.

“I definitely look up to Taylor Swift, Leann Rimes and Carrie Underwood because they are not only country music singers, but they’re going in their own direction,” Roebuck said. “Carrie Underwood is has a bit of rock ‘n roll… Leann Rimes R & B.”

The winner of YTVs Next Star competition gets a Epiphone Masterbilt acoustic guitar, $5000 to spend at Sears and their songs released by Sony Music.

Watch for more updates on this story.