A SCHOOLGIRL has beaten almost 9,000 hopefuls to record a track for pop mogul Pete Waterman.

Kathryn Coomber, 13, entered a competition as part of a promotion for Hovis bread.

Entrants had to sing a line from their favourite song down the telephone, with Hovis donating 75p to the NSPCC for every call received.

Kathryn, who lives in Trimdon Grange, County Durham, sang a line from an Avril Lavigne song and was one of 8,900 people who entered.

Of those, 300 were randomly selected for Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman to listen to, and he choose the best 15 to sing on a CD with his new signing Lauren Waterworth.

When Kathryn received the call to say she had been selected, she could not believe it.

She said: "I was not expecting anything, but then I got the phone call and I was really excited and happy."

Kathryn, who attends Sedgefield Community College, travelled to London this week to record the track at Mr Waterman's studios.

She sang vocals on a track called We Will Rock You, which will appear on an album of hymns by Miss Waterworth, which should be released at Christmas.

Kathryn, who has a 15-year-old brother, Ben, said: "The whole thing was really nice. The studio just looked like an ordinary flat, but when you went inside, it was really good."

Kathryn's mother, Christine Coomber, said the family is proud of her and intend to help her pursue a singing career.

She said: "My daughter just cried when she found out she had won, she just could not believe it because she thought it was a wind-up.

"But we are all totally elated. To get recognised by somebody like Pete Waterman made us overjoyed."