besides practicing, you have to take care of your voice, which means no smoking and no drinking. Hydrate yourself with a lot of water. Water does wonders to the voice and it thins out the mucous, which is what you want. Lessen the caffience. Drink Hot Tea and eat ginger, it helps a lot. Also do some vocal eases, and sing in front of people, this helps you in performance mode as well as performance practice. Find a good vocal teacher who knows different styles of music. The more styles of music you know, the better of you will be. practice in increments of 30-45 minutes 3 times a day and sing 5/7 days. i know practicing is a killer, but it helps a lot in the final performance.:O)