Emotional rendition for singer

ON SONG: Cruize Karaitiana won a standing ovation for his emotive rendition of Fast Car by Tracey Chapman that he dedicated to his teenage sister Shanice Karaitiana, who died suddenly late last year.

Masterton performer Cruize Karaitiana won a standing ovation from the crowd and unanimous approval from the judges on the network television show New Zealand's Got Talent on Sunday night.

The competition fate of the 22-year-old singer is now in the hands of text voters to the TV One show that airs from 7.30pm on Sundays, although his stirring rendition of the Tracey Chapman song Fast Car had been obviously moving for both the judging panel and audience alike.

He had dedicated the winning audition performance to his late little sister Shanice Karaitiana, 19. His sister had originally introduced him to the Chapman song, Karaitiana said during his show segment, but in November last year "took her own life".

"We were really close and it hurts so much. But I know she wanted me to do this. It is my dream but it's her dream for me as well."

It was the third episode that aired on Sunday of the third season of the show that returned to New Zealand screens early last month. Tamati Coffey returned to host the latest series of the show alongside a judging panel that includes Kiwi performer Jason Kerrison, former Kiwi supermodel Rachel Hunter and American choreographer Cris Judd.

Karaitiana is no stranger to televised contests after making the grand final of the My Country Song show on Maori television in June alongside fellow Wairarapa entertainers Tanya Warren, and Mel and Pip Maynard.

He also had captured a finalist berth in the Freshly Squeezed Talent Quest in 2010 alongside fellow Wairarapa singers Jenn Shelton and Ririwai Fox.

The Wairarapa contenders failed to win the $10,000 first prize but Karaitiana was asked to submit an application to front the I Am TV show and the Sticky TV children's show that had been airing on TV3.

He said a music producer also had requested recordings of his work in the wake of the Freshly Squeezed show, at which time he also was performing alongside former Masterton singer Nik Carlson, who had himself come close to capturing the New Zealand Pop Idol crown several years earlier.

Karaitiana also had won regional Battle of the Bands plaudits as lead singer with the Makoura College hip hop fusion band SKUX and as a country and western section winner in the Wairarapa Celebration Awards.

To cast a vote, send a text message to 8981 with the name of your preferred contestant as displayed on the programme. Voting lines will be open from Sunday 7.30pm until noon the following Tuesday each week.