KRISTY FRANK: On the Journey to Fame

Discovered at a BNT talent showcase and signed by Trans Continental Records at the young age of 10, Kristy Frank has been waiting four years for her big break - and she's ready to make it.

   When leading Los Angeles manager/producer Livio Harris heard her sing that first time, he knew.

   She was going to be a star.

   "She was this little girl with this big voice that gave me the chills," says Harris of that moment - one brought about by fate, it seemed. It was nearly five years ago this spring that he was sitting as a judge for Best New Talent's premiere showcase competition in place of a friend and fellow manager who couldn't make it, and nine-year-old Kristy Frank of northern Fairfield, Calif., walked out on stage.

   "I just saw something in her - and I said to myself, 'this girl's going to be a star, however long it takes,'" Harris remembers. "I knew, someday she's definitely going to be big. She's got all the qualities."

   Little did Frank know that her debut on the BNT stage would catapult her from recital performances and county fairs to a top LA recording studio. Days after her award-winning performance in the showcase, Harris phoned her with an offer to record a song written by Hollywood songwriter Doc Little about N'SYNC's Justin Timberlake called, "Dear Justin". It was this demo, recorded on the eve of Frank's 10th birthday, that later caught the attention of Lou Pearlman and cut her a contract with his Trans Continental Records - the label that led The Backstreet Boys, N'SYNC and O'Town all to their fame.

   "If it wasn't for Livio and Best New Talent, I wouldn't be anywhere I am today," says Frank. "We'd still be working on it, and we wouldn't be there yet."

   Frank's contract with Trans Continental led her to several super-stardom appearances, including the Grammy's, Nickolodeon Awards, the opening of a Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando, Flor., The Jenny Jones Show, and Ed McMann's "Next Big Star" showcase. But it didn't lead to an actual record.

   They simply didn't know where to begin marketing a 10-year-old, explains Harris.

   "Everybody thought, 'she's such a baby, what do we do with her?'"

   "So when the contract was up we decided to move on," adds Frank. "And I started fresh. I even changed my focus from pop to R&B. I started so young that with my age, my style was changing with my mood. And I wanted to keep my options open to see what worked out best."

   To find Frank's perfect niche took time. From ballet to hip hop, jazz and tap, to Christian, R & B, gospel and pop - she's done it all.

   "I really try to do everything because everything enhances everything, and you'll use it at any time," says Frank, who has pursued pop rather than classical voice training. According to Harris, there's no place for classical training in this industry. Yet, natural talent, coupled with versatility, and the ability to both sing and dance will give one the edge.

   "I don't think I could be a singer without my dancing background, or a dancer without my singing because that's where my performance skills come from," Frank explains. "Don't limit yourself to one direction because you need to do everything."

   The past four years, Frank has been honing her craft. She still studies with a local voice teacher, Richard Nickol; takes a broad range of dance classes and has more recently taken up the guitar.

   And while she's had the opportunity to perform several times on Radio Disney; developed a management team including Harris, Doc Little, and John Campbell; and met with various labels, their executives, producers and performers, including Sting's manager Miles Copeland, leading producer Ron Harris, industry tycoon Clive Davis, and London producer/song writer Steve McNerney, who worked with the Beatles, she's still looking for that perfect label to make her a star.

   To date, Harris is traveling the country to market her demo pop rock album - a cross between Hillary Duff and Avril LaVigne -- to such labels as Epic, Columbia, J Records, and RCA.

   He's optimistic that her time to break through has come.

   "She's got the right photos, the right songs - the package is tight," he says. "And Kristy's a hard worker, and she really wants to win," says Harris. "She's passionate about it, and that's what it takes to get where you want to go."

   "I've always dreamt of being a performer," adds Frank, who readily admits the industry is a roller coaster with constant ups and downs that she has had to ride. "There are sometimes when we stop and say, 'What are we doing?' But you just have to wait it out, and just keep trucking. I don't see myself doing anything else, and that's been my driving force. It's my dream."

   And to think it all began the day Frank's mom and greatest supporter, Lori, decided to put her in dance lessons. She was just two and a half years old at the time.

   "And in my first performance, after the song was over, I was supposed to leave the stage but I just kept coming back on until someone finally had to carry me off!" says Frank, recounting the family story that has been told again and again. "My mom realized then how much I loved the stage, and she decided to put me into singing lessons."

   What better way to channel the seemingly endless energy of a toddler who would sing and dance around the house, reciting every line to the music of her favorite Walt Disney movies? By first grade, Frank's involvement in singing and dancing was so intense, particularly with a local traveling performance group called "Dahlia's Rising Stars", that it demanded at times four and five hours of rehearsal a day. As a result, her mother decided to school her at home, and Frank has never looked back.

   "I've just been singing since I could talk - just non-stop. Same goes for dance. I've been dancing since I could walk, too," says Frank. "It's just a part of me, and I don't know anything different because I've been doing it for so long. It's just what I am."