Ellie's campaign begins in style

There may be local body elections coming up, but Ellie Redmond is campaigning for votes of a different kind.

The talented 17-year-old singer-songwriter is hoping to gather enough votes to perform at the finals of the Smokefree Rockquest in Auckland on Saturday, September 28.

Ellie, a student at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College, was voted People's Choice by text after the regional heats of the Smokefree Rockquest in Rotorua in May, and if she wants to win the National Skinny Mobile People's Choice Award with all the career-boosting exposure that goes with it, she needs to beat the 23 other regional People's Choice winners.

Voting opens on Facebook on Monday.

Ellie has also just recorded her first album, a 14-track self-titled CD recorded in the kitchen at her home featuring her singing and playing her own compositions, armed with just her guitar, a microphone and the computer software Garageband.

She had to record each song three times, firstly to do the guitar, then herself singing, and then a double of herself singing again, which took around 45 minutes per song.

Ellie had to wait until the rest of the family was out so that the house was quiet, and said she learned the hard way to remember to turn all phones and other ringing and beeping devices off. If she made a mistake she would have to redo the whole take.

Some of the music on the CD was from last year, two songs were her Smokefree Rockquest songs Coffee Maker and Hey You, plus some newer works.

"The day before I finished the album, I wrote a couple more and I thought 'oh my gosh, these are so good I have to stick them on the album', so I went and recorded those too before I burned the CDs."

Ellie burned 50 copies of her CD and, with the help of a friend who is a Photoshop whizz, they produced an album cover and back sleeve. Ellie had to insert all the sleeves by hand - another time-consuming job - but she's pleased with the finished result.

"I'm actually really surprised at how it's come out because it's come out quite well."

Ellie's been compared to Bic Runga and Taylor Swift, and she's already sold several CDs, with one of her teachers liking it so much he bought five for gifts.

"A friend also bought one for someone's birthday and he told me that he really loved it."

• 
  People's Choice Award voting opens Monday, August 19 for a month. To vote, visit facebook.com/skinny or search for Ellie Redmond Music.