Video: Earlsheaton singer Hollie through to Open Mic UK final

Hollie Cooper, 21, will take to the stage at the NEC in Birmingham later this month as she competes to be crowned winner of Open Mic UK.

“I’ve been singing from being a little girl,but I started playing the guitar when I was 14,” she said.

“I got some Christmas money and decided to buy a guitar. I just taught myself.”

Hollie, who studied music at Wakefield College, also writes her own songs.

She said: “I go busking in Leeds. It’s a really good way to test material. That’s how I decided what I was going to sing for my Open Mic audition.”

Hollie, of Elsham Meadows, went on to win a regional heat for the 16-20 category in Dewsbury last month.

She impressed judges with a cover of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love.

“I had so many people at Dewsbury supporting me,” she said. “It was brilliant.”

The final is on January 18.