Here they are, this year's "Sunday Star" finalists. To hear samples of each entrant and vote for your favorite, go to http://share.triangle.com/star2008. Voting concludes at noon May 23, and the winner will be announced May 30.

Marsha Bailey

31 years old

Covenant Church International, Raleigh

Bailey's entry is "You Amaze Me," which she recorded with her cousin Paul Whitley Jr. accompanying her on piano. Louisiana gospel singer Vicki Yohe recorded the best-known version; Bailey's rendition has an almost improvisational jazz feel to the vocal.

"I'm praise-and-worship leader at my church, and this is the first time I've ever really recorded," Bailey says. "The first few times I sang it, my cousin kept saying, 'OK, but do it again. We're trying to find your voice.' It can be hard to hear yourself at first. Eventually, you forget about the artist you're used to hearing sing something and you pull down deeper and deeper, sing it how you'd do it yourself."

When she's not singing, Bailey works as a secretary at Raleigh's Mount Vernon Middle School.

Capitol City Five

66 years old on June 1

St. Matthew Baptist Church, Raleigh

"We're all young men," deadpans Capitol City Five founding member Millard Jones Jr. That would depend on one's definition of "young." Jones and his five band mates are all in their 70s, and the venerable ensemble will mark its 66th anniversary this year.

"The good Lord keeps us goin', I guess," Jones says. "I wish we had some sons with enough interest in it to take it up after we're gone and keep it going. This type of singing is kind of going out, dying off. Radio stations have got so they don't play spirituals too much, mostly choirs."

That's a pity, because "Wait Until My Change Comes Along" is a rollicking old-school gospel shout-out along the lines of Blind Boys of Alabama. The Capitol City Five can also be heard on last year's second volume of "Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas," singing the seasonal favorite "Last Month of the Year."

Khedron Mims

32 years old

Bethel Family Worship Center, Durham

The lone original song in our finalist field is Mims' "Please Save Me," a very contemporary-sounding R&B ballad. In fact, unless you're paying attention, you might not even realize it's a spiritual -- the song could be addressed to you or You.

"It's an effect, just a way of realizing that all people have problems along the wayside," Mims says. "And we need help, all of us."

While he would like to pursue music as a career, Mims is a barber by trade. He also runs a singing-telegram business, which leads to some interesting situations.

"Maybe the strangest time I ever had with that was when I went to this corporate function," he says. "And all the women [were] waving dollars and telling me to take my shirt off."

Wendy M. Williams

35 years old

Mount Moriah Baptist Church, Raleigh

Williams, a reporting analyst for Verizon, sang quite a bit while growing up. But she got out of the habit as an adult, until a 2007 wedding where she was called upon to sing Twila Paris' "How Beautiful."

"I sang that for my cousin's wedding last year, and it got a very good response," she says. "I hadn't really sang in many years, not since I'd gone away to college. But anyway, someone who heard me sing at that wedding asked me to sing at her wedding, too. That was this past April."

The follow-up gig went well enough that Williams has started a wedding-singer business on the side (solosbywendy.com).

"I'm not expecting to get rich," she says, "just make a little money doing something I love."

Danica Zoeller

14 years old

Forest Hills Baptist Church, Raleigh

Danica is our youngest entrant, an eighth-grader at West Millbrook Middle School in Raleigh. But she shows remarkable poise on her a cappella performance of "The Gift," a song made popular by Canadian singer Aselin Debison. Danica's rendition was recorded at a Christmas Eve service at her church.

Eventually, Danica hopes to become a music teacher (and she's learning piano to that end). Before that, however, she does have a more immediate goal.

"I, uh, actually want to try out for 'American Idol,'" she says with a laugh, adding that David Archuleta is her favorite finalist in this year's competition.

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