The Susan Boyle of Roanoke

Roanoke's Chastidy Anderson (above) is every bit the equal of Susan Boyle (right) as a singer^

Britain has its marvelous Susan Boyle and Roanoke has her absolute equal in little-known Chastidy Anderson, a long-time music director for her church, the New Life Temple on Airport Road.

Her performance at the Roanoke City Employee Talent Show April 4, 2008 simply stopped time for manyof us in the half-full Roanoke Civic Center Auditorium with a performance of Dolly Parton's "He's Alive," a religious piece. It was a jaw-dropping moment, much like that of Ms. Boyle's introduction on the English show "Britain's Got Talent."

My wife did a story on Ms. Anderson for the city's employee newsletter a while back. Ms. Anderson works in the city commissioner of the revenue's office--personal property tax--and her husband, Ike, is with the police department. They have two young children. She is a short, round, pleasant woman in her 30s.

She writes music and wants to record a demo tape. I suspect she'll show up somewhere, somehow in the near future--at least in part because of Susan Boyle, who has us looking for talent in the most unlikely places.