Co Down girl’s Hallelujah heard around the world

The voice of a 10-year-old girl from Co Down is being heard around the world after her version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah took the internet by storm.

Kaylee Rodgers has autism and ADHD, but has been growing in confidence with every performance after starting to sing at the age of just three.

The little girl, from Donaghadee, is a pupil at Killard House Special School and it was a video of the school choir’s version of Hallelujah that attracted more than 100,000 views.

The video was recorded as part of the school's Christmas show and only made it online because Kaylee was too ill to perform live as the lead singer at a church carol service.

Her star turn hit all the right notes and has been viewed from as far afield as Australia.

UTV went to meet Kaylee and she described how happy and excited it made her just to be singing.

“It was really amazing how many views I got,” she added.

“I just loved doing it.”

Everyone is proud of how far Kaylee has come, including her family and the teachers who have supported her along the way.

“For a child who came in P4 and would really talk, wouldn’t really read out in class, to stand and perform in front of an audience is amazing,” Colin Millar, principal of Killard House, said.

“It takes a lot of effort on Kaylee’s part.”