Lloyd Webber Helps Karaoke Star

Andrew Lloyd Webber has helped the career of a 15-year-old U.S. schoolgirl who sent him a clip of herself singing to a karaoke backing track.

He put Andrea Ross on the bill of his annual music festival in Sydmonton, Berkshire.

After her appearance she was snapped up by the Universal Classics record label and will release her debut album in March.

Ross had sent the tape hoping the theatre impresario might listen to the tape and give her some feedback.

She has now recorded a mix of show tunes and standards and is being tipped to become a chart-topping star.

Last year, Lloyd Webber plucked Connie Fisher from obscurity and made her the toast of West End after she won BBC talent show "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?"

Ross is from Boston, Mass., and got her first taste of showbiz stardom when she played Marta in a local community production of "The Sound of Music."

She sent to tracks to Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Company in London.

Although the company is deluged with audition tapes, Lloyd Webber’s assistant picked it at random and played it for her boss. He duly arranged for her to sing for him at an audition in Los Angeles.