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American Morning

Kaci's Summer Job a Little Different Than Most 13-Year-Olds

Aired June 26, 2001 - 10:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: School's out for summer, and 13- year-old Kaci has what you might call a summer job promoting her new album. Kaci's debut single, "Paradise," has been climbing the charts since spring.

CNN's Lauren Hunter caught up with the newest member of music's teen scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAUREN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thirteen-year-old singer Kaci is on a quick stop to Southern California to promote her debut single, but first, she has to get ready for a photo shoot.

KACI: I love makeup.

HUNTER: Kaci says despite the attention she's now getting, she's a typical girl from Florida.

KACI: Yes, when I go home, I'm just Kaci. I'm just a normal, 13-year-old girl who just goes home and hangs out with friends and calls guys.

HUNTER: And she has typical girl concerns.

KACI: Honestly, I don't think I'll be dating until I'm 30.

("PARADISE," KACI)

HUNTER: Kaci says she's very lucky to be able to sing and calls music a gift from God.

("PARADISE," KACI)

HUNTER: It just comes naturally to me. It's almost in my blood, you know, music. It's my life. So I've always had just a passion for singing and performing.

HUNTER: This only child started singing at home when she was three, began voice lessons at eight, and recorded a Christmas album for family and friends when she was nine.

KACI: I would just go out and perform any time I could, even when I was like three. I would always ask my Dad, can I please go up to this restaurant where they had karaoke, and I would go up there and I would sing.

("PARADISE," KACI)

HUNTER: Her single was released in May with her album to follow this fall, on which she contributes as songwriter and producer. Kaci says she's following in the footsteps of a couple of her favorite performers.

KACI: The people that really inspired me since I was really young are people like Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan and Judy Garland. Celine Dion, obviously, because she has the most amazing voice on the face of the Earth. And Gloria Estefan, I've always loved that whole Latin flavor to it. And Judy Garland because I'm just in awe of her. She's amazing. She sings and she acts and she dances, you know? She does movies, the whole shebang, and I've always been like, she did it, so can I.

("PARADISE," KACI)

HUNTER: Lauren Hunter, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUSH: Well, we go from the fresh face of Kaci to the more established Whoopi Goldberg. She's going on the road again, doing stand-up for the first time in 10 years. She'll tell us all about that in our next "Showbiz Today Reports" in the 11:00 hour so I hope you'll check in with us then. I'm Bill Tush from New York.

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