Whakatane singer Cherie Sinclair shines at country music awards

Cherie Sinclair with her breakthrough NZ Country Music Award. Photo/Supplied

A Whakatane woman has won a top country music award - seven years after her dreams of performing were abruptly put on hold.

The achievement has opened up a world of opportunities but life hasn't always been a smooth ride for Cherie Sinclair.

In 2010, near the end of her last year at Taupo-nui-a-Tia College, the then 18-year-old was planning to study performing arts before tragedy struck.

"My mother and I had to pack up our lives in Taupo and move to Australia because my older sister Justine's husband Francis Kahu suddenly passed from cancer.

"He had a sore back and died five weeks later leaving her with five children and number six on the way.

"My sister and brother-in-law had been together for 20 years. My sister then studied to become a nurse, so being busy in a household with five kids plus a newborn baby, left me with no opportunity to do anything musically."

Ms Sinclair joined the Whakatane Country Music Club in December 2016 and won her first country music award in June, the Te Puke Country Music Awards.

At Labour Weekend, she was named top senior artist at the New Zealand Country Music Star Awards.

"Being a singer-songwriter, for me, this is huge," Ms Sinclair said.

"My prize package was $1000, flights to and from Tamworth for the 2018 Tamworth festival, a spot to sing in the New Zealand showcase in Tamworth's town hall and a recording package with Mill Corner Recording Studios.

"I'm now able to record some of my originals and take them with me to Tamworth to really showcase my talent and scout for the next opportunity which will be a record deal of some sort."

While in Tamworth, Ms Sinclair would also enter the Coca-Cola Battle of the New Stars competition.

With a mere $200 voucher as the top prize, she said the title would be good for her resume.

On return to New Zealand, Ms Sinclair would be straight into a concert with duo Cooper's Run in Matamata.

The 25-year-old also has her sights set on the Gold Guitar Awards in Gore next June.

Next, Ms Sinclair plans to enter the NZ Country Music Entertainer of the Year in Rotorua next October and return to Tamworth in 2019 to compete in the Toyota Star Maker competition.

Star Maker launched the careers of New Zealand's Kaylee Bell and Keith Urban.

Ms Sinclair's face might be familiar to fans of reality TV shows.

In 2012, she tried her luck with X Factor Australia and made it to the boot camp before being eliminated.

She said this was a massive eye opener and she quickly realised the reality TV world isn't quite as it seems.

Ms Sinclair would continue chasing her dreams, with the motto "aim for the sky hit the trees - aim for the trees hit the dirt".