Slice: It's an election year ... for West Valley singer's video

West Valley Middle School seventh-grader Kyle Hitchcock is no stranger to singing competitions. The 12-year-old is a two-time winner of Union Gap's Old Town Days Idol Contest in the junior division.

Now, however, he's competing on a much bigger stage: the Internet.

Hitchcock is one of 15 semifinalists in the "Be Kidz Bop Star" contest presented by Kidz Bop, a line of CDs featuring kids singing pop hits by everyone from Rihanna to Buckcherry.

Through online voting, four finalists will win a trip with their families to a resort and appear in a Kidz Bop music video. One of the finalists will also be awarded the opportunity to star in his or her own online series.

Hitchcock has been "singing before I could talk," he says, and has appeared in two high school musicals as well as the Warehouse Theatre Company's 2007 production of a musical version of "The Secret Garden."

Hitchcock is a student at Melody Lane Academy of the Performing Arts and has been studying for the past two years with voice coach Debra Hardy.

You can see his video -- and cast your vote -- at www.kidzbop.com/contests/beakidzbopstar. Hitchcock's video is the one labeled "Sweet Child O Mine," as in the Guns N' Roses song.

"Country, '80s rock, hip-hop, everything man, I like it all," he says.

Voting for the contest ends Nov. 1.

* "Slice of Yakima" spotlights interesting people and happenings from the Yakima Valley. If you have a suggestion, e-mail slice@yakimaherald.com
or call 509-577-7724.

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