A YOUNG man who won last year's Starry Eyes talent contest in Trowbridge with his rendition of Will Young's Light My Fire is hoping to follow in his hero's footsteps.

Chris Underwood, 20, is travelling to London next week to audition for the latest series of Pop Idol, the show which propelled Will Young to stardom.

Mr Underwood said: "I'm really looking forward to it. I'm a bit nervous but I think that'll really kick in when I get to London.

"I would love to make it as a singer and hope this will be a step towards that."

The former Wiltshire College Chippenham, student was encouraged to enter Pop Idol by Will Young's brother Rupert, whom he met while at the final of the Song for Europe competition in March.

He said: "I told him about my singing and he said I should enter and gave me the phone number."

The talented young man, who studied performing arts at college, is now working at Hayden's Bakery in Devizes, where his bosses allow him the time to go to auditions around the country.

He first came to prominence after he was spotted by someone involved in Starry Eyes while on stage in a college performance on behalf of Children in Need.

He entered the talent show and won both the judges' choice and audience's choice sections.

He is currently performing in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar with the Trowbridge-based Eklypse theatre company. He will have to choose a song to sing in front of a panel of judges who will then decide whether he goes through to the next round.

And he is not the only one to have been noticed by talent spotters.

During a performance in a recent Trowbridge street fair the winner of the junior section in last year's Starry Eyes was spotted by a songwriter involved with the production company behind pop star Holly Valance.

Fifteen-year-old Kayleigh Varnam from Trowbridge, a pupil at Clarendon School, was approached by the writer interested in her unique R&B-style.

Her mother, Elaine, said: "We are very proud of Kayleigh but we are keeping our feet firmly on the ground. There's a long way to go yet."