Local Idol finalists hear their fate today

Meagan Lachapelle finds out later today whether she’ll be the next Northern Idol.

But in the meantime, the Sturgeon Falls high school student says the anticipation is “killing” her.

“I’m so friggin’ nervous and sick, I just can’t wait,” Lachapelle said Tuesday evening.
“How am I going to sleep?”

No clue
Meagan was in Sudbury Sunday for the taping of the Northern Idol final along with Lacey Marie Dalton, of Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury's Thor Bonfig, Raymond Gratton, of Timmins, and Amanda Lanouette, of North Bay, who made the competition as a wild card entrant.

But no one knows how the news will be broken, safe to say it won’t come via a phone call.

“They might come to my school, which they did when I won the North Bay auditions,” said Lachapelle, 16, who’s in Grade 11 at Ecole Secondaire Franco Cite.

“I have no clue.”

Rose to the challenge
Lachapelle performed two numbers at the finals, At Last, by Etta James, and Pour que tu m’aimes encore, by Celine Dion, which she sang in French.

“It was one of her best performances and she really rose up to the challenge,” said Lachapelle’s singing teacher and coach Anne Gingras.

Like a star
Back in North Bay, Lanouette said she’s also finding the wait “nerve wracking.”

“I’m doing pretty well, but if I wake up at night I can’t go back to sleep just thinking about this,” Lanouette said.

“But it really was a lot of fun, and I did feel like a star while I was there.”

Aren't that many venues
Her Northern Idol break has definitely inspired Lanouette to pursue a singing career.

“But there aren’t that many venues in North Bay for singers,” she said.

“You can always get a band together and go to the bars but that’s not always the best way to get any exposure.”

Good things to come
Lanouette said she was chosen randomly to sing first.

“I really didn’t like that,” Lanouette said.

“It’s better, I think, to see how everybody else is doing than setting the pace for them.”

Lachapelle, on the other hand, who sang third Sunday, hopes it’s a portent of good things to come.

“It’s a weird coincidence because I went third in the North Bay auditions and won, so maybe it’s a good sign,” Lachapelle said.

“So we’ll see how good my luck turns out to be this time.”