Bridge City girl a star with the Astros

t's a huge jump from singing the National Anthem at Little League baseball games to the big leagues and the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. But that's exactly what Daelyn Perry, a student at Bridge City Middle School, did.

Daelyn, 13, sang the Star-Spangled Banner at the Saturday, June 23 game against the Kansas City Royals. She estimated there were from 40,000 to 50,000 in attendance.

"It was very nerve-racking," she said. "Me and my mom went shopping that day for what to wear. It was actually easy because I found an orange dress right away. I was practicing the song in my head on the drive over there. We also went bowling before the game to calm me down.

"I got a lot of congratulations, especially locally since we live in a small town. I thought I did really good. My dad (Dr. Russell Perry) practices with me."

However, the Perrys only had 48 hours notice Daelyn would be singing at the Astros game. Rebecca Cullums, her teacher when she attended the fourth-grade at Bridge City Intermediate School, recorded Daelyn singing and sent the video to the Astros. Two days later, the rest was history.

Amazingly,Daelyn only started singing publicly when she was 10. She began singing locally after enrolling in Tonalta School of Music. Lately, she's been too busy with other activities to go back to Tonalta.

Her mother, Temple, said Daelyn started playing the guitar and piano — "her first stop on her singing journey." Her first time to sing the National Anthem was at a Little Dribblers basketball game.

Daelyn said she really likes the National Anthem. She would practice the notoriously difficult to sing song around the house.

Her next big gig will be the Charlie Pruitt Music Legacy Show in Beaumont in October. She also figures she may sing another National Anthem before then.

"I would like a big career in music. It's a dream of mine," she said. "I like to sing all different kinds of music though I sing mostly pop and country."

In addition to singing, she likes to dance, slalom water ski and hanging out with her friends. She's also president of the eighth-grade student council and she makes straight A's. She plans to attend Texas A&M University for college.