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WARREN DILLAWAY / Star Beacon ERICA MOUNWARD participates in the Andover Idol Contest Thursday night in Andover Township.
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Erica Mouyard wins Andover Idol, $500 prize before packed house
ANDOVER —
Three final contestants of the 2nd Annual Andover Idol Karaoke contest sang their hearts out in front of a packed house at The Inn, 4791 Route 6, Thursday night.
Erica Mouyard, of Andover, sang her way to first place and a $500 prize with her rendition of “What’s Going On?” by the 4 Non-Blondes.
“I went into this to do what I love: Sing,” Mouyard said. “I made it my goal to make it to the top three. I was stunned to hear I won.”
Frankie Berecek, of Andover, finished the night in second place and a $250 prize after literally rocking the house with Led Zeppelin’s “Rock N Roll.” Winner of the $100 third-place prize, Whitney (Morrow) Martinez, also of Andover, impressed the judges with the updated version of “Killing Me Softly,” by the Fugees.
Andover Idol Karaoke Contest is the brainchild of The Inn owner, Jason Coder and owner of C & M Sound, Matt McCombs, also of Andover.
“I had done so many karaoke contests in the past and I knew what I didn’t like about them,” said McCombs, who was the MC and entertained the crowd throughout the night with his powerful, soulful voice. “Jason and I had talked about bringing a vocal contest here, and we have set it up to make it very fair.”
The contest began about 10 weeks ago with 26 people vying for the coveted 10 spots for the eight week Andover Idol contest.
The contestants were judged in three areas: Vocals, stage presence and overall performance. The judges scored each contestant from one to 10 in each area. The contestant with the lowest score was sent home each week until just three remained for the finale.
A panel of three regular judge, joined by a weekly guest judge, evaluated the singers.
“For a small community we have drawn in great talent,” Coder said. “The top 10 contestants were an interesting variety of people in ages, styles, and five of them this year were men.”
The three regular judges were Sheila Michael, Jonathan Browning and last year’s Andover Idol winner Andrea Thompson.
“I like being a judge, but I do not like to have to send people home,” Thompson said. “Tonight is the hardest decision ever because I would love to have everyone win first place.”
Thompson, along with Mouyard, Berecek and Martinez, will be singing during Andover’s People in the Park and the Pymatuning Lake Festival this summer.
Each week the contestants were given a music genre or theme to prepare three songs of their choice for three separate rounds.
“I think we have better talent here than what they have on TV this year; this has been a very close contest,” Michael said.
“This season has been full of surprises and I am glad we’ve had a guest judge here each week to counter-balance things for us,” Browning said. “Our job as judges is to help them improve and encourage them in their artistic endeavors.”
The guest judge at the finale was Arnel Berba, local vocal artist with the band The Four Kings.
“I’m here to hear some good singing, the top three ladies are in the top three for a reason: they must be doing something right,” Berba said.
“Andover Idol has been such a resounding success for the whole community and we are very thankful for the support of the community as well as the dedication and hard work from our contestants and judges,” McCombs said.
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