Cassandra Mae, Semi-Finalist, North Region

— -- Cassandra Mae @CassandraMaeJ (Semi-Finalist)

Favorite Karaoke Song?
I love singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing." My friends make it mandatory to bust it out whenever I sing somewhere or go out.
Favorite Singer/ Group?
Tough question... I have ten! But my tops are Etta James and Aerosmith. I remember seeing the video for "Janies Got a Gun" when I was little and my crush began! I still have a crush on him and I LOVE his style of music.
First Job?
I'm proud to say I was a waitress at Main Street Cafe in Litchfield, MN! Home-country cooking and I served coffee and pie to all the sweet old gents who came in. All of our orders were hand-written. Nothing fancy or full of technology!
Biggest Accomplishment?My biggest accomplishment before the show was winning the Wefest Karaoke Roundup in 2009. I opened up for Tim McGraw and sang in front of 60,000+ people. It was amazing!

Cassandra Mae is originally from Hutchinson, Minn and grew up with an ear for music. Her musically talented family consists of singers and musicians and were instrumental in guiding her passion for music.

She's been singing since the age of five and entered her first competition at a county fair at the age of 11. "I got up on stage and the song started and I sang a couple notes and I completely froze," she says. "I eventually got through the song and everyone was clapping, but I was crying off stage and crying into my mom's arms and she kept saying I'm so proud of you!" Although she did not win that competition the devastation at such a young age did not stop her love of singing as she continued to sing at other competitions and later karaoke bars.

Cassandra left her small town bridge jumping days and currently lives in Fargo, North Dakota where she manages a boutique store called Hot Mama, which she loves. Some of her favorite places to sing are JT Cigaro and Divas & Rockstars.