BATHURST could well be on the tour schedule for country music sensation Kaylee Bell next year.
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The New Zealand born singer moved to Bathurst in 2011 to pursue her career in music and even by her own standards she has succeeded.
Ms Bell, 26, dropped into the Western Advocate during her recent visit to Bathurst to talk about her music journey so far.
“It’s been insane,” she said.
Since winning the 2013 Toyota Star Maker competition her star has risen beyond expectations.
And, now she is back in the studio recording and has just finished her latest single – Getting Closer.
“I did a big songwriting session in Nashville [Tennessee] earlier this year so we’ve got a lot of songs,” Ms Bell said.
The Keith Urban thing has happened twice now and it’s pretty insane. I still pinch myself.
- Kaylee Bell
“There’s something so cool about writing your own songs.”
Her debut album, Heart First, produced four Top 10 singles on the Australian Country Charts.
Ms Bell said winning the Star Maker competition set so many now well-known singers on their path to fame including Lee Kernaghan, Keith Urban, James Blundell, Gina Jeffreys, Beccy Cole, Darren Coggan, Kylie Sackley, Samantha McClymont and Luke Austen.
“Winning [the 2013 Toyota] Star Maker was a bit of a big deal for me because I moved to Australia when I was 22. I was 24 when I won it,” she said.
Looking back over the highlights of her long singing career, she first started singing when she was just four years old, she said there are some notable highlights.
One of them was when she and fellow Star Maker Keith Urban took to the stage in Narrabri during his Australian Light The Fuse tour in 2014.
“The Keith Urban thing has happened twice now and it’s pretty insane. I still pinch myself,” she said.
“He’s lovely and I now get to spend a lot of time with him which was really good.”
Despite the success, the big stages and country music legends who she now calls friends, Ms Bell still makes time to visit her original home town of Waimate in the South Island of New Zealand home.
And, like many others she is also making plans for 2017.
“I’d like to get my own tour next year in Australian and New Zealand and continue to build my profile,” she said.
“I hope Bathurst will be on the tour.”
Looking towards her future as an artist, Ms Bell admits she has one thing in mind that will prove to herself that she has ‘made it’.
“When I can play a Monday and Wednesday night in Sydney like Keith Urban and still sell out,” she said.