Sussex teenager Katie Neiman has taken her first step on the road to becoming a pop icon.

The 17-year-old from Pembroke Crescent, Hove, has reached the final 50 contestants in ITV's Pop Idol search-for-a-star contest.

They were chosen from 10,000 hopefuls originally auditioned for the show.

Performing is clearly in Katie's blood. Her mother Caroline and father Stephen run the Hove-based Hanover Band orchestra and her grandmother was a cousin of actress Vivien Leigh.

Now Katie is hoping to join the stars by winning Pop Idol.

She said: "It has always been at the back of my mind to become a singer but I didn't think I would get the chance.

"I heard about the show in August. I was coming back from shopping in London on the train and saw it advertised in a newspaper being read by the person next to me.

"I wrote off and they got back to me after about two weeks. Out of everyone who sent in an application they auditioned 10,000 and now I am in the last 50."

Katie, who is studying for her A-levels at Brighton and Hove High School, has already been recognised from her brief appearances on the show.

She said: "My friends have seen me on the television and all the little ones at school have been coming to talk to me. It was really cute.

"They have only shown very brief clips of me. I have been on the show for five or six seconds. They seem to be focusing on three of the contestants."

Although Katie has appeared in musicals with a local theatre group and also sung with the Glyndebourne Youth Opera, she wants to follow in the footsteps of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

Her proud father said: "Music runs very much in the family. We are thrilled with what she has achieved so far."

The Pop Idol show is a follow-up to the hugely successful Popstars programme which launched the band Hear'Say.

The 50 contestants have been split into five groups with weekly votes on Saturdays. Katie will feature in a video diary on November 10.