Wellington College student Heather Cameron-Hayes has fought off 10,000 other budding musicians to make it to the final of the Open Mic UK competition’s under-16 category and will appear on stage at the NEC in Birmingham in January.

The 16-year-old, who was 15 when she auditioned so qualifies for the under-16 category, made it through tough rounds of auditions and regional heats singing one of her own songs, called 'Losing Our Minds’ and a cover of Radiohead song Creep.

Preferring to perform with just a piano and vocals, Heather, who lives in Winkfield Row, says she chose to cover Radiohead in order to mix things up a bit and make people listen.

She said: “I was inspired by an artist on Youtube who covered the same song. I just wanted to change it a bit so that people didn’t recognise the song at first.

“I like performing more emotional songs with just a piano and my voice, I like being more artistic.” The winner of the contest in January will be rewarded with £5,000 to spend on developing their music career, but Heather is keeping her feet firmly on the ground saying she plans to study criminology at Manchester University.

She said: “It would be amazing to be a singer but it’s so hard to get anywhere in the business. So I decided to do something extra, but I will try my hardest and will keep singing.”