Ashlee Nikole

Ashlee Vaca & Adrian Diamond
In a very close competition, 10-year-old Ashlee Vaca from Poughkeepsie, New York won tonight's Junior Singer preliminary round and will return for the Semi-Finals on Friday, March 14 at 8pm ET/PT. Ashlee was first to perform tonight, and won after her powerful rendition of "At Last". Performing second was 13-year-old Adrian Diamond, from Stevenson Ranch, California, singing "My Girl." The judges enjoyed both singers, but when their scores were tallied, Adrian was ahead by 1 star.

In one of those moves that make STAR SEARCH so unpredictable and exciting, the home audience reversed the judges decision, scoring Ashlee higher than Adrian. Ashlee Vaca won tonight's Junior Singer preliminary category, and will return for the Semi-Finals next Friday, March 14.
- Cbs.com

The Poughkeepsie Beat
By Jennifer Meiers For The Poughkeepsie Beat

Heart racing, palms sweating, head pounding—these are all understandable reactions for someone about to sing in front of 20,000 people. But when Ashlee Nikole began singing "At Last" during halftime at a New York Knicks game, she was not the nervous.

Ashlee is convinced that she does not get anxious when she sings for a crowd because she has been doing it for so long. Born in California, Ashlee has been singing for as long as she can remember. When she turned four she begged her parents for vocal lessons. Before she knew it, at five years old Ashlee was winning state vocal competitions, attracting the attention of an agent, and being encouraged to move to New York. At age 7, Ashlee and her family moved to New York to pursue her dream and they have been here ever since.

Ashlee has been a very busy girl these past years. Upon coming to New York she has been cast for national television commercials and print ads. She has also performed at numerous places such as Madison Square Garden, The Apollo, Star Search, Live in Hollywood and Planet Hollywood. Currently she Ashlee is working in the studio on new material and working hard on her piano and guitar skills.
Earlier this year, she was one of three finalists in the New York Knicks Kids' Talent Search to perform at Madison Square Garden. Ashlee also recently participated in an intense three-day audition for the new season of Star Search on CBS. This past week she found out that she was chosen from amongst 9,000 people to be a contestant. So in just a few weeks she will be off to Hollywood to perform.
While Ashlee started out singing Judy Garland songs, now during auditions her favorite song to use is Etta James' "At Last." However, when she is learning a song, Ashlee never listens to someone else singing it first. She uses the music to get the rhythm and then incorporates the soulful sounds of R&B into her style, like her favorite artists Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera. "I try to do songs my own way—create my own version," said Ashlee.

- The Poughkeepsie Beat