TWO Fylde Coast teenagers could be heading for the top after winning through to the final of Blackpool Pleasure Beach's Popstar Search.

Nineteen-year-olds Nick Whiteside, of Mill Dyke Close, Blackpool, and Kane Davies, of Bradshaw Lane, Pilling, are among the 39 fame-hungry performers picked from 500 who auditioned for Stageworks Worldwide Productions in September and October.

After wowing the panel of talent scouts at the Pleasure Beach Paradise Room, Kane and Nick will go through to the grand final on October 29,

Blackpool-born Nick, who is a sales assistant, said: "I have wanted to do this since I was nine. I have always wanted to be an actor and then when I got into high school we did musicals and I found out I could sing."

But Nick is no showbiz stranger. He auditioned for Popstars and Popstars the Rivals, was in a boy band in London and along with mum Suzanne, won the jackpot on Michael Barrymore's My Kind of Music.

Only child Nick says he doesn't know where his talent comes from. "There's nobody musical in the family. My mum has got stagefright. It took me ages to get her on the show."

By contrast, Kane's mum and dad were once both professional singers. "All my life I have sung and I like musical theatre," he added.

"I thought I would give the auditions a try to see how far I would get doing pop rather than musical theatre. At the semi-finals there was a lot of talent, a lot of brilliant performers and performances and I was surprised when I got through."

He thanked his voice coach, South Shore based Mike Hall. "Without him I probably wouldn't be doing any of this".

But he admitted his thoughts are not on the grand final just yet -- the curtain went up on Tuesday on The Scarlet Pimpernel at Preston's Guild Hall theatre in which he plays Azzy, a main role character.