Music abounds at Suburban Chicago's Got Talent
Corrinne Behrendt does not give up.
The 20-year-old Antioch singer has tried out for American Idol twice — once with an investment of 10 hours. She's tried out twice for America's got Talent and once each for The X FACTOR USA and The Voice.
And what has she gotten from putting herself on the line for reality television so many times — nothing, nada.
But lest you think the Illinois State University student is without talent, she did come in second at the Lake County Fair's talent contest.
And she tried again Saturday at Suburban Chicago's Got Talent, sponsored by the Daily Herald, the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre and the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce.
She figured the odds were better because only 300 acts were allowed to try out, compared with thousands who line up for the television shows.
“I've been singing country since I was three when I started with karaoke,” she said before singing “Gun Powder and Lead” on the main stage of Metropolis in Arlington Heights. “I just love country; it's my life. The lyrics tell a story.”
Allison Mahal of Lombard is only 15, but she was one of several high school students who demonstrated considerable talent Saturday during the last of the three days of auditioning.
She sang a song “Where my Heart Is” that she and her best friend wrote. And she accompanied herself on the piano, too.
Another young act was saxophonists Angela Aranda, 14, Hanover Park, and Holly Novak, 15, Hoffman Estates, whose song “Dearly Beloved” came from a video game they play.
An older duo, Camille Eiseman and Terry Tank of Crystal Lake, sang “I Got You,” while Tank played the guitar. They call their act Faith and Whiskey, and showed up with their spouses and Eiseman's daughters, Makayla, 4, and Mackenzie, 9.
It was Faith and Whiskey's first public performance as a duo, but they sing with a band named Western Sky and at Willow Crystal Lake, a Willow Creek Community Church.
Twenty finalists will perform again on Sunday, July 8. Then the number will be whittled to 10 for a show on Sunday, July 22, and the final five contestants perform on Sunday, Aug. 5, and again at the Taste of Arlington Heights on Saturday, Aug. 11. At that time, the winner — who gets a paid trip to audition for NBC-TV's America's Got Talent — will be announced.
Metropolis is selling tickets for the upcoming shows, and fans will be able to vote online for their favorite, who will win a Funjet vacation for two.