Contestants 2007-2008

Congratulations to our RE/MAX
Victoria Idol 2008 Finalists!

 

Spencer Needham, Victoria Idol 2008 Winner
This young man is back in the RE/MAX Victoria Idol finals for the second year in a row. Spencer is 15 and a student at Belmont, and lead singer in District of Soul, an R&B band made up of young West Shore musicians who regularly perform at events including Metchosin Days, the Luxton Fall Fair, and Jazz in the Park. Spencer is an active volunteer as well, having participated on behalf of Cops for Cancer, Heart to Heart Variety Show, and the 24-hour relay.

 

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Al Ferraby, First Runner-up
A radio broadcaster with more than 20 years of air time under his belt, Al is on the CFAX 1070 Wake Up Team, and a radio broadcaster with more than 20 years under his belt. He’s been with CFAX and now sister station KOOL FM since 1994, and involved in all sorts of community events. As it turns out, he’s also a terrific singer.

 

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Sydney Needham, Second Runner-up
Sydney finished in the top three in Victoria Idol 2006. She graduated from Belmont this year and was awarded the PACE Howard and Donna Denike Performing Arts scholarship. She’s a veteran of the Totally Teen Talent Show, and has placed second in the Island Songbird Talent Search for the past two years. She sings with Holiday Harmonies, District of Soul and Backstage Betty, and will be staging a benefit concert with Louise Rose in support of Jeneece Edroff, who has a goal of raising $1 million for Variety Telethon.

 

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Ashley Armstrong
Ashley describes herself as a free-spirited 23-year-old with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a penchant for singing anywhere, anytime. And speaking of Canadian Idol, Ashley made it through the first round of auditions this past season. She’s a traveler, an employee for the Ministry of Health for the time being, and is happy to be back playing soccer again after some time away.

 

Rhyley Bremner
This 13-year-old is a student at Royal Oak Middle School, where she keeps busy with voice lessons, dance, soccer, and hanging out with friends and family. Rhyley comes from a musical family and has herself been entertaining since age three. She has performed in a number of talent shows, art festivals, benefit concerts, plays and choirs since then, and regularly gets down to the Spiral Café to sing on open-mic nights.

 

Remi Cote
Remi clearly has a knack for singing competitions, starting with his first-ever back in Ontario when he sang a Bon Jovi song in front of 1,500 people, and carrying on through Northern Idol and Star du Nord, which gave him the opportunity to be the opening act for a Quebec band. Then it was off to Kelowna, where he came second in the 2005 Okanagan Star Search and joined the band 4Ward. Now he can add the finals at Victoria Idol 2008 to his list of musical accomplishments.

 

Daniel Loder
A number of contestants in the competition this year started out their lives somewhere else in B.C., including Daniel, who hails from Houston, B.C. He’s 26 and dreaming of the day he hears himself on the radio - he had his own band in school and was the lead singer, and still finds it relaxing to pick up a guitar and sing for a bunch of friends.

 

April Reidie
April has made it to the Victoria Idol finals in each of the last three years. April loves singing and has been in numerous competitions, and has been a featured singer for the national anthem at Salmon Kings games and Western Speedway. Out there at the speedway is where April indulges her other passion—showing and racing her 1993 hotted-up Civic, sponsored by Zensport.

 

Monica Rossa
Monica is another Victoria Idol veteran, with a long list of vocal accomplishments that include musical theatre - Belle in Beauty and the Beast, to name but one - plus the prestigious title of most outstanding female performer at the 2007 Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival. She’s also a rower, a soccer player, a swimmer, and in her spare time fits in a few good deeds on top of it all, like cooking at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church. Monica is a student at St. Michael’s University School.

 

Vinnie Taylor
While you may not have heard Vinnie sing, perhaps you’ve heard him speak — he’s the drive-show guy for Jack FM. Originally from Calgary, this radio business veteran has worked at stations in Saskatoon, Regina and Calgary - and now he’s on the West Coast, having moved here eight months ago. He started singing in Calgary with a band of radio and TV personalities who came together to raise charity dollars, and has been singing ever since.

 

Debbie Thomson
Debbie is a registered nurse at the Royal Jubilee Hospital and a long-time musician who has done a whole lot of singing over the year, from appearing on the Ida Clarkson show way back in 1984 to her ongoing stint as a choir director with the CFAX Santa’s Anonymous Choir. Fourteen years ago, she had perhaps one of her most important musical moments—she wrote a wedding song for her husband and it was played at their wedding.

 

Whitney Williams
This talented young singer from Frances Kelsey Secondary was a Victoria Idol 2007 finalist. She’s also been a semi-finalist at the PNE Star Discovery Talent Search two years in a row, and this summer represented the Cowichan Valley Music Festival at the provincial competition for classical voice in Penticton, where she finished in the top five in her age category. Watch for her at a Salmon Kings game, singing the national anthem.

2006/2007 Contestants

2005/2006 Contestants