Tracie Spencer 12-4-87 "Imagine" TV talent show performance

11 year-old Tracie Spencer belts out an impressive performance of "Imagine" on a television talent show broadcast from 12-4-87. Her success on the show resulted in becoming the youngest female solo artist ever signed to Capitol Records. All her subsequent records are terrific, we're big fans at the BetaGems channel and wish she hadn't seemingly retired from recording.

BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded from the early 1980s into the 1990s. Most feature live music performances broadcast on television in San Diego CA, though there are also rarely seen commercials, comedy clips, and other material that doesn't seem to be anywhere else on Youtube or online.

Most of the tapes were recorded on a Sony SL-HFT7 Super Beta Theater Hi-Fi Stereo - the same model was refurbished and is being used for these digital transfers and uploads. In rare occasions where a BetaGems clip does appear elsewhere, we're only uploading if our own beta master is better quality or contains material not seen previously. Much footage comes from public television and public access broadcasts that the taper, who worked for a local cable TV production company in the 1980s, monitored nightly for several years. Some of the programming is strictly regional, mostly from the San Diego area.