By Kim J. Harmon

DANBURY – Heather Gunn is a singer and an actress and and hopes to become a success in music and theater, but it’s her rendition of the National Anthem – which many local basketball fans will remember her singing before Newtown High School games – which has given Heather her first big break.

While Heather – always dressed in her uniform and ready to play – kicked off many a girls’ basketball game beautifully with her singing of Francis Scott Key’s A Star Spangled Banner, even before the most dramatic of games she probably never sang to a crowd of more than 250 people.

In June, though, she will singing the anthem in front of, maybe, 60,000 people at the Seattle Mariners’ brand new and beautiful SAFECO_Field in Seattle, Washington.

Heather, 18, a second semester student at the American Musical Dramatic Academy in Manhattan, recently participated in – and won – a National Anthem singing contest at the Danbury Fair Mall sponsored by the New Haven Ravens minor league baseball team.

Because of that, the Ravens – a Double ‘A’ affiliate of the Seattle Mariners – will host Heather and her wonderful voice on opening night on Monday, April 10, at 4:05 pm in New Haven. Then – and this is the capper – the Ravens will be sending her to Seattle to perform in front of a major league baseball audience.

“I didn’t think singing the National Anthem would take me anywhere,” laughed Heather, who was in between classes at the academy.

Heather was given a choice of singing before a Seattle Mariners – Tampa Bay Devil Rays game on June 20 or 21, or singing before a Seattle Mariners – Anaheim Angels game on June 27 or 28 and it appears she will choose the Seattle-Anaheim series because, she said, of what would likely turn out to be a better crowd and better exposure.

More than 120 people from around the state had signed up to sing the Anthem, but the schedule for the mall competition would allow for just 50 to perform. As a result, another 150 or so aspiring singers will get a chance to vie for some other spots in the New Haven Ravens’ 71-game home schedule during competition Sunday, March 19, at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven.

“We hold National Anthem auditions every year,” said Bill Berger, assistant general manager of the Ravens, “but this was the first year we offered the grand prize of going out to Seattle. We were overwhelmed with the response.”

Signing up for the contest was something of a last minute thing. Her mom, Leslie, heard about the contest and Heather said, “I figured, yeah, why not?” so on Wednesday, March 1, her mom went down to the Danbury Fair Mall (which was hosting the contest along with KC101 radio) and signed her up. Meanwhile, Heather – who was going to come home anyway for her brother’s birthday – was on her way in from Manhattan.

The contest began well before Heather had arrived at the mall, though, which gave her mom a chance to listen to most of the field. Heather, though, didn’t mind coming in right at the end – she was No. 50 in a list of 50 singers – because, “I didn’t have to listen to the competition,” she said.

And after all the points were tallied up, Heather’s upbeat, pop version of the Anthem earned her a tie with the Hat City Quartet.

“With the barber shop quarter, it was really tough for the judges to pick between the two of them,”_said Mr Berger. “Heather really has a beautiful voice and it will nice to have her so out and represent the state of Connecticut in Seattle.”

To decide between the quarter and Heather, a sing off – typical, perhaps, of an overtime basketball game – enabled Heather to edge out the quartet and win first prize.

“It’s great,” she said. “I’ve never been to Washington.”

Now she will have a couple of months to get used to the idea of singing in front of a crowd about 300 times bigger than the largest crowd she ever encountered and Heather said, “Yes, I’ve thought about it – but I figure I better get used to it if I want to perform for a living, huh?”

While a student at the American Musical Dramatic Academy in Manhattan (where she is studying musical theater), Heather is not allowed to audition for outside acting or singing roles until her fourth semester. That gives her time, she said, to concentrate on the training (every day, about eight hours or even more, she studies anything from tap and production to speech, theater and dance).

Singing the Anthem for a crowd of major league baseball fans is different, though. So is work in commercials, which she is actively pursuing even now.

“It’s actually going to be pretty cool because my name will get out to other media,” said Heather, who is 18 now, but who will be 19 before she flies out to Seattle. “It will be a cool experience.”

It was a cool experience for many listening to her sing the Anthem right before a basketball game at Newtown High School and it will be a cool experience knowing she is taking that song – her rendition of it – right to the major league stage.