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Talent? Anja has got plenty
25Apr08
Yarramundi singer Anja Nissen, 12, is about to test her vocal skills on Australia's Got Talent.
SHE may only be 12 years old, but Yarramundi's Anja Nissen has a voice that inspired Dannii Minogue to give her a standing ovation.
Anja will appear on Channel 7's Australia's Got Talent on May 6 singing Circle Of Life from Disney's The Lion King.
"It's age-appropriate and a lot of people know it," Anja said.
"We could only sing 90 seconds for the heat, so it had to be cut down quite a bit."
To get on the show, Anja had to perform another song for two minutes last year in front of the show's producers. She then went to Melbourne to participate in one of the heats.
"I sang The Power, The Dream by Celine Dion," she said.
"I've been singing it for a while and I really like that song, so I decided to sing it."
Celine Dion is one of Anja's singing idols.
"I have just recently been to one of her concerts," she said. "She's got the best voice ever and just makes me like her even more.
"I like her power, and how she goes up to her notes, and how she does her little trills."
Anja made it through the audition process to perform Circle Of Life before Australia's Got Talent judges Red Symons, Dannii Minogue and Tom Burlinson.
"It was a lot better than I was expecting," she said.
"I was really scared by what they were going to say.
"Red Symons was a bit mean to other children, and I was scared that he was going to have a go at me, but he was actually really, really nice about it."
Anja's mum Bettina said the audience gave her a standing ovation after her performance, including Dannii Minogue.
"She had very positive comments," Ms Nissen said.
"She told her that she definitely has got talent, and she hoped an experienced record producer was watching the show."
Anja said she owed a lot of her success to her singing teacher Natalie Carboni.
"She's been helping me all the time," she said.
"It's been very hard with the practising every week you have to put your mind to it.
"The good thing is, at the end of the day when you're ready to go on stage, you feel nervous in a good way.
"When you get up there you just let it go, and it's just gone and you do what you've got to do."
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