by Mary-Anne Leang
14 year old Keeley Brown was this year’s winner of Kemptville’s Got Talent (KGT) which was hosted at Buskerfest on May 20th. Judged by Bob Windsor from Eddy & the Stingrays, event sponsor Tonya McRae of Kemptville Painting and Councilor Kristin Strackerjan, prizes were also awarded to Kayleigh Styles and Kemptville Infinity Spirit Team. Special guest appearances were made by Meagan Cumming and Paulina Hrebacka.
Keeley is a self taught singer/songwriter and this is the first time she has brought her vocal and guitar talent to the stage. Prior to KGT, Keeley had only, on one occasion, performed publicly singing a duet with John Wilberforce when she was 10. When asked how she got started, she said that she taught herself to play guitar during covid. Her mother, Shannon Brown, says that Keeley has always had an artistic talent. When she was 8, she tried her dad’s drums and then borrowed his guitar to write her first song called The Chicken. Her songwriting and interests have certainly come a long way since then. Shannon adds that Keeley has always enjoyed performing, whether acting, cheer or music and is always driven to improve.
When asked how her songwriting started, Keeley said she started writing poetry and then wanted to put it to a tune. She says she writes primarily to share emotions and process challenges in life. At KGT, Keeley performed 2 cover tunes and one of her original songs called Cold Reality which she wrote to help process the challenges of relationships.
Outside of this hobby, Keeley enjoys cheerleading, coaching at Kemptville Infinity, and being part of Oxford Mills Sisterhood of Guiding where she is in the Pathfinder level. She is part of the group from the Sisterhood going to Alberta this coming July.
You can have a chance to see Keeley perform live at the trip unit’s fundraising rodeo and rib bbq dinner event on Sunday, June 18th at the Kemptville Legion. Activities start at 1 and Keeley will be the opening act during dinner prior to John Wilberforce taking to the stage.
KGT’s organizer, Herb Cloutier, was very impressed by this year’s talent. He added that they plan to start promoting KGT in the winter next year so people have more notice. In the future, Herb hopes that our local talent, whether musical, dance, comedy or other performances continues to grow and that people are comfortable stepping forward to perform at KGT next year for a chance to win some great prizes.