| Faryl Smith On May 31 2008, Faryl Smith's life changed dramatically when she sang her way into people's hearts and minds all over Britain during the final round of ITV's Britain's Got Talent. One minute Faryl Smith was an ordinary schoolgirl from Northamptonshire who liked to sing in the choir, play soccer, and shop with her friends - the next minute Simon Cowell was praising her in front of a national television audience, calling her "literally one in a million" and "the most talented youngster I've ever heard." Now about to sign the largest record deal ever awarded to a schoolgirl, Cowell's endorsement may one day be worth its weight in platinum! Faryl's parents, Tony and Linda, think Faryl inherited her musical genes from her great-grandmother, who "used to sing on the Welsh radio and won a lot of competitions," and still has a healthy pair of lungs at the age of 95! "My grandfather's Welsh, so there's Welsh blood in me," Faryl adds. "And Harry Secombe is in our family tree. I think the musical thing just missed a couple of generations and came down to me. It certainly skipped my parents," Faryl chuckles. Good genes aside, Faryl gives plenty of credit to her history of singing in choirs. In addition to being a chorister in her local church choir, she's a regular performer with Kettering's Masquerade Youth Choir, a group which boasts some impressive achievements. "The choir go to Llangollen every year, and we won it this year, actually. We also got to the final of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year. And we got through to Last Choir Standing (on BBC television), but our choir teacher thought it would demand too much time and be too pressurized for us, so he withdrew us from it." Faryl's choral experiences have been important in shaping her voice and her choice of repertoire. "The choir sing contemporary songs and ballads, but they're mainly classical," she explains. "My singing teacher started me off with show songs and stuff because I was at that age, then after that we moved on to classical songs. If it wasn't for the choir I don't think I would be singing as a soloist, because they bring you out and let you know that you have got a voice. But of course when you're singing with the choir you're not a soloist, you're part of the group." Faryl is taking piano lessons to round her musical knowledge, (time pressures forced her to give up the guitar). "I know quite a lot about music now I'm playing the piano," she points out, "and it helps with the singing and recording. It means that if people start talking about crotchets and quavers I do have some idea what they're talking about."
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