Cesilee Dean Cesilee Dean of St. Ignace will compete in the America’s Rising Stars national karaoke semi-finals Thursday, November 10, at Seymour, Tennessee. The winner is awarded a $50,000 recording contract.

Miss Dean, 23, qualified by winning a karaoke contest at Kewadin Shores Casino in St. Ignace earlier this year. In June, she qualified for the semi-finals after finishing as one of the top six singers in the quarter-finals, where 16 contestants competed and were judged on vocal ability, stage presence, crowd response, and overall performance.

The contest splits singers into categories of their choice, either pop or country; Miss Dean is in the pop category.

Miss Dean, a student at Lake Superior State University, is the daughter of Tonee Therrian of St. Ignace and Timothy Dean of Madison, Wisconsin. She is a 2000 graduate of LaSalle High School.