Like many teenagers, Margot Bingham keeps a journal in which she documents her daily experiences.

		Margot B Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square. When: 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Admission: $5.

Unlike many teenagers, Margot Bingham also fills them with lyrics, sometimes writing up to three or four songs a day.

And, as she's about to demonstrate, she has talent and maturity beyond her years and the pipes to put those songs across.

On Saturday night, Bingham, a 16-year-old junior at the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), becomes Margot B and will release her pop/R&B debut, "Unframed," with a show at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Besides being her release show, it's actually her first show -- the first time she performs for an audience other than school kids.

Bingham, a Scott native and daughter of former Steeler Craig Bingham, has been in the news before. In 2002, she was crowned the National Miss Black Teen. A year later, she wrote and recorded a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. called "In My Dreams" and had it played in 32 states.

That song was recorded with Weirton, W.Va.-based producer-guitarist Rick Witkowski and his colleague, B.E. Taylor, as a special backup singer. While in the studio, Bingham and Witkowski clicked, so the next step was to open the journal.

"Every time I write lyrics," she says, "I try to think of a melody to go with it. I take anything I can. I take my phone, I take my recorder that my mom bought me to get the melody down. There are tons of songs that I've never used at all. I never run out of songs."

Bingham and Witkowski, with acoustic guitar in hand, would sit and work out the chord progressions, the songs coming almost effortlessly.

"Unframed" is so titled because of its diversity. It's playful, pretty, funky, tender and more sensuous than people might expect from someone who toured schools with an MLK tribute. Over 10 songs, Bingham hits on the sultry Alicia Keys-style ballad, Avril Lavigne teen-rock, Beyonce R&B and jazzy pop that calls to mind Rickie Lee Jones. There's also a very tasty, girlish cover of Sixpence None the Richer's "Kiss Me."

Bingham attributes the diversity to her older brother's record collection and her adoration of the late Aaliyah.

"She's my idol," Bingham says. "She died two days before my birthday [in August 2001] and I just was horrible for a couple weeks. I wrote so much that week and I started drawing and writing and really getting into music and tapping into my darker side of music. She was all over the place. She was hip-hop, she was R&B, then she got into acting. Everyone loved her. Everyone. I was hoping that one day I can almost be like her, but I could never be exactly like her. She was phenomenal."

Bingham admits there was some debate even within her own family about whether "Unframed" should take on so many styles.

"Actually, it really wasn't OK with everybody. My brother heard something in my voice and said, 'I think you should go R&B.' My mom was like, 'Let's see what happens.' I sent out my stuff to a lot of different companies. I got feedback from this one guy and he didn't like how I was all over the place. His suggestion was to concentrate on one specific genre. I took that kind of hard. I don't like concentrating on one genre; I don't think I can."

That was OK with Charlie Humphrey, the executive director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, who, with Witkowski, was launching Uh Oh Records, a label designed to cultivate local talent and, hopefully, pass them to a bigger label. He came up with the album title to describe the record's range.

"There's a pretty wide variety of styles there," Humphrey says. "Usually when you sit down and listen to a record, you get into a groove of the 'thing.' She has several different 'things' going on there as she kind of finds her way through all of this. [But] it has a wonderful, rich sound, and hearing this person grow through the music, it's just really satisfying."

One easy comparison to make when listening to Margot B is to Kelly Clarkson, and with "American Idol" now in full stride, it's only natural to wonder if she's considered that route.

"I have," she says, "and the thought is no. 'American Idol' is an awesome show and it's cool how they are giving people opportunities. But when you put yourself out there, if you screw up once, you're in the public eye. Your chance is over. In one split second. If you come up independently, you can get a lot of no's before you get a yes. I don't want to stick in anyone's mind as no."

She's going to work on yeses starting with her coming-out party Saturday at the Hard Rock with a band that consists of CAPA schoolmates and two members of Taylor's family. She suspects that fronting the band is going to be a big leap from her musical theater training.

"For musical theater, you always have a character," she says. "For my own music, I'm kind of stuck with the reality of my own character. It's actually a little bit scarier. On stage, I can kind of be someone else, so I don't feel the nerves as much because I'm actually living someone else's life."

Now, Bingham launches a new one as Margot B, and her biggest hope is to make a connection with the listener.

"I want people to be able to listen to the CD and connect with, if not the entire CD, to maybe one song. Because there's so much emotion in this CD and I hope I can touch someone out there and help someone through an emotion. Because that's what I do. When I feel sad or mad I pull out a CD."