Derek HoffmanUpdated Thu. Aug. 2 2007 12:48 PM ET Get Derek's Style at the Pantene Backstage Zone! Voted off Top 22 Age: 17 "Canadian Idol is important not only because it launches your music career, but it also improves you as a vocalist, a performer and a musician." Currently a Grade 12 student at Aurora High School, Derek will be attending Seneca College for Independent Music Production in the fall. He also runs a small home studio where he records, engineers and produces local musical acts when he's not playing with his band, Mail Order Bride. Derek believes that his unique voice and personality have brought him this far in the competition, but it's the faith the judges have in him that has kept him going. "Even on the walk out (after finding out I had made it into the Top 22) I had to stop and take another look," he says. "The whole week felt surreal although the performances felt like second nature." Between shopping for shoes and watching "Seinfeld," "Friends" and any of the "Star Wars" films, Derek spends time with his friends, his band and on stage performing. The proud owner of a betta fish named James Dean, Derek would love to follow the career paths of bands like Fall Out Boy and Ten Second Epic. "They're bands who pay their dues in their local music scene and just explode through promotion, touring and exposure," he says. The thing Derek loves most about his hometown is how everyone has an appreciation for music and supports the local music scene. "You will always see 200 kids come out to see the same bands every show and I think that keeps the youth of Aurora well-grounded, social and cultured." For Derek, having the power to write music is a great gift and sharing that with an audience is something he'll never give up. Song List
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