Keshia Chante is not your typical teen pop star.

She was not a contestant on either American Idol or Canadian Idol, she is not a former star of a popular children's television show, she was not a model, did not hook up with a former member of a boy band, did not participate in a reality show of any kind, was not written up in National Enquirer and was not a member of the Mickey Mouse Club.

Keshia Chante got through on talent alone. Imagine.

Ambition, too, of course. Appearing today at 4 p.m. in Kingsway Mall in Edmonton to sign autographs, the 16-year-old singer says she was driven to be a pop artist from early childhood. And when she wants to do something, "nothing and no one will stop me."

Her first public performance was rapping Dear Mama by Tupac Shakur - with whom Chante shares a birthday. Too cute. By 2003, she was hanging with Toronto love machine Shawn Desman. She recorded the female "answer song" to Desman's hit, Shook.

He sings, "With her pretty brown eyes, sexy little thighs, the way she moves just gets to me. Keep shakin' that thing, you're making me sing."

She sings, " 'Cause he's lookin' so fine, he's gonna be mine. The way that he moves just gets to me. Keep shakin' that thing and makin' me sing."

She was 15 at the time. Did it as a "favour," she says.

Chante's latest single is a bouncy track called Bad Boy. She didn't write it, but she says she's fine with the message behind it. It deals with, well, a "bad boy" who tries to be something he's not. Lyrics include, "Bling, bling, bling, I don't see no ring" and "bring back the thug or this thing is dead."

Nope, not your typical teen pop star. Definitely not another Hilary Duff. One is plenty. Too much.

With the whirlwind schedule of promotion and performance that is the lot of any modern recording artist bankrolled by a major label - not to mention studying in Grade 11 while on the road - Chante doesn't get to enjoy the typical teenage social life, either. It's a sacrifice she's willing to make.

"Since I was little I've always made sure that if I have dreams to do something, nothing will stop me. I've been raised to think that way. So I knew I'd miss my friends, but I had to overcome that. I still talk to them every single day. One of my friends is in my video. I don't get to go to the movies, go to the mall and do all those cute things that you do when you're 16 years old. In a way that kind of sucks, but in the end, this is what I love to do and I wouldn't trade it for the world."

Chante's self-titled debut album, released this June, is the fruition of a process that began with an audition over the phone. BMG Music's talent scout Ivan Berry had called the then-14-year-old at home on a school night - yes, Catholic school - and basically said, "Sing for me."

Chante didn't hesitate.

"I didn't even really know who he was and I did it anyway," she recalls. "It's important for people who have that dream and they get that shot to not hesitate, to not ask, 'Oh what song should I sing? What should I do?' None of that."

Other auditions in person followed - which she says were the most nerve-wracking performances of her young career. Big crowds, no problem. National anthem at the Grey Cup? Piece of cake. A boardroom full of humourless music biz execs? Now there's a tough crowd.

"Those were the most nerve-wracking shows I did. Execs don't bop their head or tap their feet. They don't do anything. They don't show any interest in what you're doing. They just sit there and watch and criticize - the suits," she laughs.

At least she doesn't have to do much of that anymore.