NO, it's not Gareth Gates, but some would say it's the next best thing.

David Trousdale, aged 15, from Pockley not only entered a Stars in the Eyes event organised by Pickering Safeway, he raised over £300 in sponsorship money.

There were 12 excellent entries in the competition, but David was the only person to use the occasion to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Relief.

"I'm as proud as punch of him," said his mother Andrea. "He got the sponsorship in off his own bat in just four days."

Now David, who sang Unchained Melody, is turning his thoughts to a career in show business.

"I have only just started to sing in public," he told the Gazette & Herald. "Now I've started to sing in front of people who don't know me, I might enter Stars in their Eyes next year."

The winner of the Safeway competition was a Ronan Keeting sound-alike from Whitby.

Updated: 10:27 Wednesday, October 09, 2002