Ten in battle to be Digicel Rising Star

25.JULY.08

Ten Vincentians are now in the running to become the 2008 Digicel Rising Star. These contestants were selected from a group of 122 participants.{{more}}

The judges – lawyer Vynette Frederick, businessman Brian Alexander and University of the West Indies Lecturer Sean Sutherland, sat through the performances of 46 hopefuls last Sunday, July 20, at the Peace Memorial Hall. These were chosen the day before by Barbadian Auditions Director Curt Dawson from among the 122 to move on to round two.

After a day of scorching remarks, bickering among themselves and at times plain old laughing at the contestants, Alexander, Sutherland and Fredericks came up with the top 10 local performers. Now, it’s up to the public to decide who will be the top two Vincentians to represent this country at the Finals to be held in Barbados.

The overall winner will receive a recording contract and a music video contract.

Chosen to represent St.Vincent and the Grenadines and the songs they sang en route to the top 10 are Tonne Edwards – My Redeemer Lives – by Nicole Mullen; Sherikka Rose – At Last by – Celine Dion; Colin Peters – Old Pirates – by Bob Marley; Tamisha Nicholls – Action by Tamisha Nicholls; Tamara Jackson – How do I live without you – by Shania Twain; Serano Andrews – Ordinary People – by John Ledger; Deon Paul – I Love the Way – by Tamisha Nichols; Novecha James – A Whole New World – by Reuben Stoddard; Kenrife Matthias – You Raise Me Up – by Josh Groban; and last but not least Sonil Lynch – Stay With You – by John Ledger.

The two chosen will compete with persons from the islands of Grenada, St Lucia, Dominica, St.Kitts, Nevis, Barbados, Antigua, Anguilla and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

In order to vote for your favourite performer, persons can use either their Digicel or Cable & Wireless phones to send a text to the number at the bottom of the screen on the television broadcast.

Marketing Manager at Digicel Juno DeRoche described the competition as: “One that will give persons an opportunity to showcase their talent and hopefully encourage them to continually participate”.

This is the fifth time that Digicel is holding this competition. Vincentians Kioka Cruickshank and Kyron Baptiste won the competition in 2005 and 2006, respectively.