If you close your eyes listening to DaMarra Underwood, you'd think a woman twice her age is singing. The Sheridan resident looks like a typical 15-year-old, but when she starts into a gospel song or a hymn, her voice sounds much older.

"For a young person to have that maturity in her voice is incredible," says the Rev. Lacy Richardson, pastor at Underwood's church, Metropolitan Baptist on the North Side. "I am just astounded at what comes from her."

So are many people from the community. Since Underwood was 8, she has been consistently singing gospel in local Baptist churches. "She is very well-known," says Richardson. "There is often a very generous crowd when she sings." Her father, Howard Underwood, estimates she has sung in about 60 churches -- "about half of them more than three times."

If Underwood has it her way, she will continue to attract crowds as a professional gospel singer, citing Yolanda Adams and the great Mahalia Jackson as inspiration. "I find enjoyment in it," she says. "I see how music reaches and touches people."

The voice department coordinator at the city's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, where Underwood is a sophomore, thinks she has a shot. "She has a stage presence about her," says Linda Ross-Brown. "She really feels pieces, sings with sincerity and draws the audience into the performances. She has a promising future in the performance arena."

Recently, Underwood has had success in a high school chorus competition. She is one of seven singers from CAPA who made the regional level of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, with a shot in late March to make the state festival chorus.

Contests such as the festival chorus are just a microcosm of the bigger tests that face any singer who wants to "make it."

"It is very competitive, but if I work hard, I should be OK," says Underwood, who also has sung at Heinz Field and for head coach Mike Tomlin (although not yet for a Steelers game), "The Bobby Jones Gospel Explosion" TV show and Dan Onorato's inauguration. She plans on singing the national anthem at a Pirates game at PNC Park this summer, as well as participating at the Mel Blount Roast at the Hilton Pittsburgh. "The hard work will pay off."

If she does go on to a performing career, she will do so as DaMarra Chanel -- using her middle name as a stage name. But don't expect to hear any woeful stories about an artist being taken advantage of by agents, promoters or record labels.

"I want to go to college to be an entertainment lawyer," she says, voicing it like a challenge, and with good reason. "I want to look at my contract and tell what it is. A lot of people have been ripped off, and I don't want to be."

Comments such as this one show Underwood's voice is not the only mature element about her. "She is hard-working," says Richardson. "She does not procrastinate on any assignment; she goes after it." Her parents, Gloria and Howard, couldn't be prouder. "This girl has got so much going for her," says her father, who plans on producing a CD of her this summer.

Underwood's voice falls into a low soprano range but is still growing. "It is getting stronger and starting to sound a little older," she says.

Watch out.

DaMarra Underwood performs at the 11 a.m. service of Nazarene Baptist Church in Wilkinsburg on March 9.