An acting student/indie rocker brought down the sold-out house and was named Mount Doug Idol during the finale of the secondary school’s 80th anniversary celebrations at the University of Victoria’s Farquhar Auditorium Nov. 19.
Kale Penny, a UVic acting student and frontman of local band Sunday Buckets, won the final round of the singing competition judged by Mount Douglas secondary school alumni Nelly Furtado and David Foster, as well as his songwriter daughter Amy Foster.
More than 100 vocalists with past and current connections to Mount Doug entered the competition. That number was whittled down to five finalists prior to the finale.
Penny, 22, wowed judges with a slowed-down cover of Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean,” before he took the mic for a victory performance of Foster’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion),” with the Hitman himself. Beyond the title, the Idol winner went home with a trip for two to anywhere in North America.
Penny was up against Victoria-based singer/songwriter Justin Hewitt, Amanda Wood, Christine Seeber and Joni Anderson.
Foster remained at the piano bench while Furtado closed the show with two of her most popular singles, “Try” and “I’m Like a Bird.”
The evening was in support of Mount Doug’s alumni association, of which Foster is honorary president, and included renditions of some of his biggest hits performed by the Morry Stearns Band.
nnorth@saanichnews.com