South Bay Teen Idol Finals Are April 25 in Los Gatos

Who will be the next South Bay Teen Idol? That’s the question on everyone’s mind leading up to the finals on Saturday, April 25th at 7:00pm at the Addison-Penzak JCC in Los Gatos.

Ten of the best teen vocalists from Santa Clara County and Alameda County will compete for the top prize of $2,500 for themselves and $500 for the winner’s school, in the 4th annual South Bay Teen Idol competition.

The top ten contestants made it through open auditions in January and were winnowed down from 20 contestants at the semi-finals in February.

At the finals, each participant will perform in one group number and one solo. A panel of three judges will comment on each vocalist’s performance. After all 10 finalists have had a chance to perform, the judges will select the top three contestants, and the audience will vote for which of those three will be the South Bay Teen Idol winner for 2015. The 2nd and 3rd place contestants will also receive prizes.

The 10 finalists are:
• Aubrie Andrade – Santa Teresa High School
• Ava Toren – Los Gatos High School
• Devon Schreiner – Fisher Middle School
• Emma Gerson – Fisher Middle School
• Julia Rogers – Mountain View High School
• Kiana Naderi – Valley Christian High School
• Liat Rubin – Los Gatos High School
• Lyla Rose Neely – Oakland School for the Arts
• Samantha Bell – Piedmont High School
• Sanjana Sanghani – Saint Francis High School

Three local music heavyweights will be judging the competition:

Tory Ross- Tory Ross is new to the South Bay after spending ten years in New York City where she was in the original Broadway companies of the Tony-Award winning musical Kinky Boots as well as Cry-Baby and 9 to 5. She has been seen in the Broadway National Tours of Wicked, The Producers and White Christmas and has also performed at Carnegie Hall, The Grand Ole Opry and on London’s West End. On film, you may see and/or hear her in The Producers, Sex and the City 2 and Disney’s latest blockbuster Frozen. More information can be found on her website: www.ToryRoss.com..

Marla Davies- Marla Davies is the morning DJ at Bay Area radio station Mix 106.5. She has been on the morning show at Mix 106.5 for the past 15 years. Before that she spent many years as a rock radio DJ at KOME, KXFX-FM in Santa Rosa and KOFY- AM/FM/TV in San Francisco. Marla hosts many local charity events and is a strong supporter of the San Jose Film Festival – Cinequest.

Robert Hayes-Robert Hayes is the founder, chairman and C.E.O. of Sound Management Inc. He is best known for managing the multi-platinum Grammy nominated band Smash Mouth among other recording artists. Sound Management Inc. is a talent management and full service film and television production company. Hayes has also made his mark as one of the premier music licensing gurus in the industry, landing opening titles and tie ins for movies such as “Shrek” and many more. In addition to Hayes’ work with Smash Mouth, Sound Management also has boasted a roster of other talented independent and major label recording artists. Currently Sound Management is focusing on recording artist and actress Keke Palmer (True Jackson VP, Akeelah and the Bee, The Joyful Noise), Colette Carr (Interscope/ Cherrytree Records), and continues to promote Smash Mouth with their latest record “Magic” (429/Universal Records).

Apart from the $2,500 grand prize scholarship and $500 school donation, second and third place winners will also receive prizes. Additionally, and most importantly for burgeoning talent, all contestants will have developed connections in the highly competitive music industry.

Seating for the finals is limited to 350 people. Admission prices range from $15 to $100 depending on the type of ticket.

Tickets and more information are available at www.siliconvalleyjcc.org/idol. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the door.

For more information, contact Diana Schnabel at the JCC, Diana@svjcc.org or 408.357.7402.