A TALENTED teenager hopes to raise money for Children in Need with a seven-hour non-stop singing marathon.

Arianna Morgan, 13, is staging her musical marathon on Friday at Lakeside Shopping Centre, West Thurrock.

Last year the Thundersley teenager raised £500 for the BBC appeal with a similar event, and this year hopes to raise even more.

She said: “I’ve been practising for a very long time and so far, it’s going really well.

“I will be singing lots of covers by people such as Emelie Sande, some more upbeat songs from Jessie J, as well as a few Christmas numbers thrown in.”

Arianna, a pupil at the Appleton School, Benfleet, has been singing since she was a small child, but began to take it seriously at the age of eight.

She said: “My favourite thing about performing is making people smile. My parents are really proud and have been really good about it.”

Arianna travels around the country performing and raising money for various charities, singing most recently on behalf of the Prince's Trust in Cambridge last summer.

Her music has been featured on national TV, notably the One Show, Sky Sunrise and London Tonight and on Aled Jones's Good Morning Sunday programme on BBC Radio 2.

She’ll be joined by fellow singer Ashleigh K from noon on Friday.