A saunter into the classic rock vault helped Suzanne Baker win first place and be crowned the first-ever Rock Bar Rock Star on Saturday (June 11) at Chances Boardwalk Casino.
The 38-year-old craniosacral therapist crooned Janis Joplin's Me and Bobby McGee followed by a stirring rendition of Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith. She charmed the crowd and the judges with her silky smooth voice, but admitted that she was a little surprised to walk away the winner.
"It's pretty shocking," she said. "This event was really great and the other singers were just amazing. I really came into this blind so it was surprising to win."
Baker said a night out with her girls to sing karaoke turned into a quest to finish first in the contest.
"It all started as a girls' night and me and a bunch of my friends just wanted to sing karaoke," she said. "I won that night and just kept coming back for more."
For finishing first, Baker receives $500, the opportunity to perform on Mountain FM's The Morning Lift and personal management training from Star One Management's Celeste Gendron. However, don't expect to find her CD anytime soon.
"I have two little kids and I'm 38," she said. "If I make an album, I'll probably just make one for them."
Finishing second was Ash Keenan, who electrified the crowd with a pair of charismatic performances, including an Iron Maiden song where she ran through the crowd during an extended guitar solo. Third place went to Dawn Oleman, who showed good range singing a country tune as well as Eric Carmen's All By Myself. Keenan and Oleman received $300 and $150, respectively, for their efforts.
Also participating were Nicole Sims, Cody Schnell and Rachel Heskett. According to guest judge Nadine McNeill, determining the winners was not an easy task.
"You were all amazing," she said, moments before revealing the top three. "There's a reason why you're all in the top six."
The judge panel was made up of McNeill, Gendron, Mountain FM's Mike Hewitt and country music star Karen Lee Batten. The judges all performed at various moments during the night, proving their considerable talent to those in attendance.
Throughout the night, host DJ Darcy kept referring to it as "season one" and Chances manager Colleen Anderson seemed to agree with him.
"I think we'll do it again," she said. "But I think we should make it more grand. I'd like to get the community involved a little bit more and some local businesses as well."
Anderson said she was impressed by the talent in Squamish.
"The talent in this town is so amazing," she said. "And we've been busy here all night, it's just been a very successful night for us."
She noted that the number of shows and the number of participants in the semi-finals was 11, in honour of the year 2011 and said that might be the only thing that will change next year.
For more information on the event, visit www.chances.ca/locations/Squamish.
