Singer takes dream to US

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RISING STAR: Tekapo singer Becky Murray is working hard to make her professional dreams come true.

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Hard work is paying off for aspiring Tekapo performer Becky Murray.

Murray, 23, is jetting off to the United States today, where she has been engaged to sing at an Independence Day event in Wyoming, before she bases herself in Houston, Texas to work on material for her "pop-country" album.

Murray, who paid $45,000 for a musical contract with entrepreneur Gray Bartlett, said she was looking forward to the whole trip.

"I'm very excited," she told The Timaru Herald yesterday.

She moved to the North Island last year to take up the contract, which she funded by taking two jobs.

Murray said she had already recorded five or six songs for an album, and would record three or four more songs in Louisiana with American songwriter Brady Blade.

Her singing engagements in the US were the result of an unsuccessful application she made for an artist's grant. Although she was turned down for the grant, Murray said she had had to create a business plan for the application, and had been able to use it to gain engagements in the US.

"It just made me contact all these people."

While some things were planned, the trip could lead to unexpected contacts, she said.

"You never know who you'll meet."

After her stay in the US, Murray will head to England to work with a composer to produce music for Tekapo's Starlight Reserve initiative.

- © Fairfax NZ News