Sunday's semi-final promises to leave the judges with a hard decision to make.

The 12 singers all put on a good show when they performed in the heats over the past few weeks, and are planning on doing even better this time.

Tom Pepper, 21, from Coombe Dingle, who works as a bar person in the Harbourside venue the Living Room, impressed in his heat with renditions of two jazz tunes by Michael Buble.

This time round, he says he is trying something a bit different.

"I will still probably do a track by Michael Buble called Home," he said.

"But I am also going to sing more of a ballad – Michael Ball's version of You Raise Me Up."

Full-time mother-of-two Madilyn Nicholas, 45, will choose two songs out of three that she has been practising – Immortality by Celine Dion, Hero by Mariah Carey and Stop by Sam Brown.

Madilyn, who lives in Kingswood, was born in the Philippines and has been singing since she was 15, including singing for nine years in hotels in Thailand.

She said: "I am really excited to have got this far in the competition.

"I enjoyed the heat, and so did all my friends."

The youngest of the singers will be 14-year-old Rosie Southern, who was the winner of last year's talent show in Backwell.

Rosie, who lives in Backwell, said: "I am probably going to sing Beyonce's If I Were A Boy, but I haven't decided on the other song yet.

"I was really surprised to get through the heats because all the others were older than me and more experienced, but I am really looking forward to Sunday night."

Michael Crump, 15, from Weston-Super-Mare, was surprised by the response to his first appearance in the competition when he took to the stage in the fourth heat.

"It went extremely well, I thought – much better than I expected," he said.

"All the ladies in the audience were screaming and wolf-whistling, which was nice! I haven't decided yet exactly what songs I will be singing in the semi-final, but I might do Will Young's Leave Right Now."

Care assistant Kirsty Clinch, 20, will be travelling from her home in Westbury, Wiltshire, to take part in the semi-final.

Kirsty, who finished fourth in last year's competition, will be singing and playing guitar.

She has not made a final decision on what songs to sing, but she says she will definitely be singing one that she has written.

She said: "Unfortunately I have come down with a bit of a cold so I am hoping to fend it off and still put on a good show.

"I am very excited about the competition, just a bit worried that having a cold will let me down – I am just going to do my best.

"The heat went really well, but I want to up my game for the next stage."

William Hardiman, 17, from Backwell, will be singing and playing guitar, performing one of his own songs called Bridge Valley Road and a cover of another song which he has not decided on yet.

The Backwell Comprehensive pupil is also preparing for the regional finals of the competition Live and Unsigned next month.

Will, who is taking part in the competition for the first time, said: "There was a great atmosphere in the heat.

"I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the semi-final."

Natalie Perry from Kingswood will be singing You Give Me Something by James Morrison and Anastasia's I'm Outta Love.

The 21-year-old, who works in Keynsham's Britannia Building Society, said: "The heat went really well so I'm looking forward to the next round."

Crystal Cooper, 15, will be travelling all the way from Dorset for the heat.

Crystal, who won Junior Search for a Star in 2006, has been taking part in the competitions since she was nine years old.

She will be singing Whitney Houston's Saving All my Love and then maybe Celine Dion's I Drove all Night.

Amy Fussell, 15, from Warmley, also got through to the semi-finals of the competition last year.

Amy, a pupil at Sir Bernard Lovell School, will be singing Leona Lewis's Run and another song yet to be decided.

She said: "I really enjoyed my heat so we'll see how the seim-final goes.

"As long as I have fun, I'll be happy."

Chloe Sherwood, from Stockwood, has spent much of the last year in a studio.

The 20-year-old R'n'B singer has been working on writing songs and getting them together to record her first album.

She said: "I'm a bit nervous about the semi-final, but looking forward to it."

She will be singing Rihanna's Take A Bow and Alexandra Burke's Hallelujah.

Also taking part will be Sophie Warren, 18, from Patchway, who works as a sales assistant at TK Maxx, and Sarah Walklett, a 22-year-old bar person from Hotwells.

The other two semi-finals will take place on April 26 and May 10.

Tickets will cost £4 for adults and £2 for under-16s, with the semi-finals starting at 7.15pm.

Then comes the big night – the Grand Final on Sunday, May 17 – when the Search For A Star 2009 will reach is dramatic conclusion.

Tickets will cost £6 for adults and £3 for children but will not be available until after the last semi-final.