Ramir Parker, the winner of the inaugural Farmville’s Got Talent and a Cumberland County High School student, will soon perform at the famed Apollo Theater in New York.

An announcement was made by Cumberland County Public Schools (CUCPS) Superintendent Dr. Amy Griffin March 13 during the county Board of Supervisors meeting.

Parker will perform during the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night, which is a competition that features youth who perform song, dance and variety acts.

Parker said one of the songs he will be set to sing in New York is “A Song for You” by Donny Hathaway.

He said he started looking into the performance after winning Farmville’s Got Talent. His claim to fame had been “Versace on the Floor,” by Bruno Mars, which he sang at the final round of the contest.

“I was looking around, and I saw that they were having the competition going on, and so I signed up,” Parker said about the Apollo competition.

The Farmville’s Got Talent competition was held at Willet Hall at Longwood University. He said his favorite music genres are R&B and pop, though he said he enjoys all different types of music.

Parker, a freshman at Cumberland County High School, said he started singing at 5 years old, first performing in public in a travel choir called Singing Sensations Youth Choir that performed in New York, among other places, at age 7.

“Before then, I would write songs at the house and sing and stuff like that,” Parker said.

He said the response from family, friends and classmates has been overwhelming.

“Everyone’s been asking me after the talent show where I was going next,” Parker said. “People have been completely excited and happy for me.”

The competition included seven semifinalists whose talents ranged from song and dance to variety acts.

Longwood University Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement Steve Robertson said the university was proud of Parker and sought to encourage his upcoming performance.

“We’re really excited for him,” Robertson said. “We’re just really honored that he able to perform and share his talent with us, and he’s going to make Farmville and the surrounding Cumberland very proud.”

The Apollo Theater, which opened in 1914, has been considered integral to the prominence of jazz, swing, R&B, gospel and blues in the American popular culture, according to the Apollo Theater website. Past performers include Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, James Brown and Luther Vandross, among others.