KTV Finalist, only 19 Wants to Help Kids

If the next KTV the Remix champion will be Chelsy Castro, she will need your help. Chelsy shared with News Five that she was not able to get herself a sponsor for the voting competition, whose winner is determined by the number of votes they receive. Chelsy is only nineteen, but aside from wanting to continue in music, she also wants to help children. News Five stopped in with Chelsy for a little while to get to know who she is when she’s not on the KTV stage. It happens that at only nineteen, she has been turning a few heads on the island already among people who know her talent and have asked her to perform at special events. The winner will be announced on Tuesday night, but voting ends at midnight on Sunday and Chelsy says if she wins, she wants to invest the money in children. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

If you’re a fan of KTV the Remix, you may have seen her and heard that lovely voice as she sang each Tuesday night at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts. Chelsy Castro is only nineteen years old. Born in Belize City, she now lives, works and studies in San Pedro. As a nine-year-old, discovering her singing talent came one day while attempting to brighten someone’s day.

 

Chelsy Castro, KTV the Remix Finalist

“I had a friend who was in a fire accident and she went to the US for surgeries and stuff like that and it was like on her birthday week And so my mom decided like, you know, let’s just sing a little song for her. At the time we didn’t know that I could sing. So I did it and then she was like, “you’re kinda good” (laughs). Yeah.”

 

 

Chelsy’s mom, Cindy Fuentes works with children in the arts and also sings. She coaches her daughter for every KTV session. She says Chelsy has long surpassed her ability.

 

Cindy Fuentes, Mother of Chelsy Castro

“I do sing at karaoke’s. Um, not that good. Not that karaoke good, but not that – stage good, but the drama and all that, that would come from me. I do a lot of – I help school when it comes to the festival of arts and so I’m the most artistic when it comes to stage performance and how she should stand, what she should do, facial. So I’m the one that does all that for her.”

 

 

 

We met Chelsy on the job, at Belizean Melody Art Gallery on Barrier Reef Drive. It’s a not-for-profit gallery that promotes the works of Belizean artists only. While Chelsy herself does not paint, she helps to run the display room. She’s also majoring in business management at the San Pedro Junior College. For the past six weeks, she has been juggling homework, her eight-to-five, and KTV preparations.

 

 

 

And if we were to go by her performance, specifically on the night of July twenty-third, when she wowed the audience with her rendition of the Latin song, Que Agonia by Yuridia and Ángela Aguilar, you would think she speaks Spanish fluently. She doesn’t and had to put in extra hours to get that performance down pat.

 

 

 

Chelsy Castro

“I was like planning out songs for each of the genres and for Spanish. We focused on that more because I don’t see Spanish. And so I was like –”

 

Marion Ali

“At all?”

 

Chelsy Castro

“Well, agua (laughs) good morning.”

 

Chelsy does not have a sponsor for her appearances on the show, instead she sings karaoke at nightclubs. When the audience cheers her on, she asks them to vote for her. She also sings at events where people who have recognized her talent, ask her to perform. Now that she has reached this far, she has greater musical pursuits on the horizon.

 

 

 

Chelsy Castro

“I’m actually consider considering to like potentially becoming a Belizean artist. I’ve got in contact with like producers and they want to help me out and so like potentially I could be publishing my own music.”

 

 

 

Chelsy sees herself composing her own music, as well as performing well-known covers, should she land an opportunity in the music industry. She also wants to help children.

 

Chelsy Castro

“I’ve never had a vocal teacher Until KTV when I met Miss Giselle, that was my first time going to a vocalist  So I wanted to with the 10, 000 invest in like some music instruments to also help children and give them that support that they need thankfully I had from my mom, but, you know, I can give that to other kids, give them that vocal lessons, like, with that $10,000 I can, like, teach myself to, like, give to others.”

 

Chelsy’s favourite songs are from soundtracks.  She left us with this treat from the Little Mermaid. Marion Ali for News Five.