A 12-year-old West Belfast lad tells us he hopes to do the city proud when he appears on ITV's The Voice Kids this weekend.
Jarlaith Mervyn, who recently took up busking, says he's "buzzing" to perform for will.i.am, Pixie Lott, Danny Jones and Ronan Keating.
Rathmore Grammar School said they "are so proud" of their pupil and that the whole school community will be cheering for him when he appears on ITV at 7.30pm this Saturday.
Read more: Watch: Ronan Keating moved to tears during NI teen's The Voice Kids performance
Jarlaith, from Glengoland in the Colin area, first picked up a guitar at the ripe old age of four and his mum tells us the singing followed later.
After finding his voice aged six he has gone on to record covers from Lewis Capaldi, to Queen, Harry Styles and even Creedence Clearwater Revival and last year he released a special cover of Simon & Garfunkel's The Sound of Silence in honour of Noah Donohoe.
Speaking about his appearance on The Voice Kids, Jarlaith told Belfast Live: "You have to go through so many stages before the actual show. When you get onto the big stage you are just buzzing to perform.
"You walk out on the stage and it's not even that long of a walk but I was out of breath. I wasn't feeling nervous going into it but the nerves hit you the first 30 seconds... but whenever I got into it I grew in confidence.
"I just want to do Belfast proud," he added.
The youngster is also studying the guitar, goes to Oh yeah Music Centre and is learning to write his own music.
"My mummy and daddy sit down with me every night and do a wee bit [of practice] with me," he added.
As for his muscial influences, he said: "I take my music taste after my daddy Jim. He's really into music but he's never really played the guitar or sang. He just has a good ear. He kind of picks my songs."
This Saturday the youngster will go head to head with other young singers aged between 7 and 14 from across the UK in a blind audition he hopes will get the judges to turn their red chair around.
Jarlaith's mum, Tracy, said: "He really had an interest in the guitar from around four and the singing came about age six... with a bit of persuasion and now we can't shut him up."
Speaking about his upcoming Voice Kids appearance, she added: "It's amazing. We are just really proud of him that he can perform and it's not a bother to him."
Jarlaith has also been making friends with other kids who share his interest in music after winning an Award for Young Musicians from a UK charity.
Tracy added: "The busking only happened recently thanks to Awards for Young Musicians who sponsored him and gave him a wee award of some money and he was able to buy the stuff for busking.
"He's been doing that a couple of weeks now and he just loves it. We are just really proud of him that he can perform and it's not a bother to him.
"The Awards for Young Musicians invited him over to London to perform for the donors. There were three 18-year olds and him. That was another amazing experience."
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