THE wife of pop mogul Pete Waterman has launched her own bid to discover the showbusiness stars of the future.

Denise Waterman, who topped the charts with Tight Fit at the start of the 80s, is running a stage school called Born to Perform at Cransley School this week.

"You never know who's there and who's going to have something to offer," she said. "I do have a casting agency coming on the last day."

Around 30 youngsters are taking part in the five-day course, which has a music hall theme.

The youngsters will be given the chance to sing and dance before taking part in a spectacular finale on Friday.

"It's all about giving people confidence," said Denise. "Not everyone is able to perform and I want to put them in an environment where they feel happy to do that.

"Sometimes in school shows there are one or two children that are featured and the rest become scenery."

Denise picked the Great Budworth school because it has a huge gym which was available all summer.

And the Watermans' own two children, who are pupils there, will be among the hopefuls preparing to sample the roar of the crowd.

"There are stage schools all over the place in the south," added Denise. "Just because you're north of Watford doesn't mean you can't have a bit of what's going on down there.

"The other day I was jokingly saying to Pete that I should have had a school for pop stars - there would have been four times as many people trying to come along."

Not content with putting on a show at the school, Denise wants to give others the chance to enjoy the efforts of her pupils. She is hoping an old people's home will offer to host the youngsters.

"It will be nice for the children to perform it for a real audience," she said. "But it's got to be somewhere with a piano and a large room or a community centre near a home so that they could all toddle down."

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