Channel 4's Rock School, a small addition to the canon of TV talent shows, uncovered an even smaller star earlier this year in the diminutive shape of 16-year-old "Lil" Chris Hardman.

It was the unenviable task of Gene Simmons from Kiss to sculpt a band from pupils at a Lowestoft school once attended by members of the Darkness.

Hardman emerged as the obvious talent, his hyperactive stage presence and natural ability impressing the rock legend as much as they irritated his classmates. Now that he has a record deal and an imminent solo album, he is intent on proving he is more Little Richard than Little Jimmy Osmond.

Plenty of his schoolgirl peers already seem convinced, squealing hysterically throughout this brief close to a short UK tour. His more sceptical elders might be surprised to find that he has a genuinely unusual rock voice, a jolting, stuttering delivery that lifts his punk-by-numbers towards something more special.

Me and My Life was a decent tune held back by clichéd lyrics about teen rebellion ("Be what you are and not what you're told to be") while the chorus of Gettin' Enough?? skated rather too close to the Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen in Love?. But Get Delirious and current single Checkin' It Out successfully harnessed all that youthful energy to create undeniably exciting sounds.

Perched on the monitors, skinny arms punching the air, to mature eyes he still looked too much like someone pretending to be a rock star. Simmons was right - there is definitely something there - but probably only the schoolgirls will ever see it.