Students were rock stars for one night at live karaoke event

The Observatory was filled with over 50 people for the Rockstar Live Karaoke event on Wednesday.

Students built up their courage to go up to the microphone and rock out to one of their favourite hit songs.

Brady Collier, 23, a computer programming student, got up and sang a great rendition of Fulsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash. Collier was relaxed and at ease on stage and offered some advice.

“Just be yourself and you will do great! We all have a star in us!” said Collier.

Amanda Logan, the events programmer for the Students’ Association, was at the event. “This is one of the major events every year,” she said. “This is a bigger karaoke event because we bring in a full band.”

All the members of the band are professional musicians. Some members have been involved with Rockstar Live since 2001. They have hundreds of songs on their roster.

Sam Griffith, 20, business administration and member of the Algonquin College Glee Club, said, “It’s a big list, it’s intimidating, I’m going to do Justin Timberlake.” He belted out a great rendition of Can’t Stop the Feeling.

There were college employees in attendance such as Bethany Joy, 26, an employee at the Marketplace, who thrilled the crowd with a great vocal performance of Poker Face by Lady Gaga.

The band members included lead guitarist Glenn Finn who has toured as a backup guitarist for Burton Cummings and plays with the Killer Dwarfs and the Rowdy Men, a band that plays Newfoundland music.

The drummer, Dan Loach, has opened for Iron Maiden and Jeff Pearce and is a founding member of Moist, a band with three platinum records.

It made for a great backup band that could riff into full-out guitar solos in songs like Hit Me with Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar.

It was such a successful event the music played later than scheduled. Students rocked on to some of their favourite hits.