On song Keri second in NI’s biggest star search

Editorial Department • Published 26 Aug 2010 16:00 0 Comments

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Talented Enniskillen singer Keri Wilson finished second out of 2,000 hopefuls in the Grand Final of Citybeat’s young star search which came to an end last weekend after months of searching. It was a brilliant effort by Keri to finish second in the final of Northern Ireland’s biggest star search while there was also a top performance from Edele Ledwith, also from Enniskillen, who also made it to the final.

The event took place in the Castle Court shopping centre in Belfast last week which was filled with friends and family of the contestants chanting the name of their would-be-winner. The atmosphere was electric and the support simply incredible. Banners, balloons and even personalised t-shirts were brought along as an effort of encouragement.

A delighted runner-up Keri revealed that she entered the competition because, “my mum encouraged me, or should I say forced me... like most mothers do when they see you have potential and need a push”.

Keri revealed that most of the parents she met there, were as nervous as their children, if not more nervous thereby emphasising how involved the whole family were with the competition.

With the crowd tight against the stage, shoulder to shoulder along the mall and looking down with banners from the first floor, the pressure was really on.

First up was the junior section and immediately the standard was set. Gavin Gribben brought what seemed to be the whole of Newry and sang ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ melting the hearts of the crowd. But the most outstanding performance of the day, came from a tiny girl with a huge voice. Aged just 8, Emma Lowry lifted the roof with the vocals as she sang ‘Ave Maria’. Suffering with autism Emma wowed the crowd and judges with her endless confidence, bubbly personality and outstanding performance.

The senior section had a lot to live up to, yet rose to the challenge. Zoe Skillen brought an edge of country to the competition with her Miley Cyrus number, ‘The Climb’. However Jessica Hammond raised the bar completely with her own unique interpretation of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’, strumming her way to the stardom.

At this stage the tension tripled before the final young adult section began. Some knock out performances in the young adults group further impressing the judges were from Lauren Garland, Andrea Begley and Edele Ledwith from Enniskillen who got the crowd going with ‘I think we’re alone now’.

A polished performance by Saoirse Hallam, singing Alexandra Burke’s ‘Hallelujah’, made her one of the judges favourites to win while Joe McNulty and Keri Wilson lifted the competition to a whole new level.

The standard of competition was incredible, everyone was talented, likeable and different making the decision extremely difficult for the judges.

A fact backed up by record producer Mickey Modelle who said: “The talent this year is just out of this world. There are easily half a dozen contestants this year who could be recording artists and it goes to show what an amazing wealth of talent there is in Northern Ireland.” It was crunch time and the first group to be read out was the young adults, The top five names were read out, Keri being one of them and the remaining contestants were asked to leave the stage. A further two names were revealed and left Keri, Saoirse, and Joe fighting for first place.

Regarding the final decision Keri said: “My heart was racing on the stage and the pressure was immense, listening to half the crowd shouting Keri and the other half opting for Saoirse. So when her name was announced, I congratulated her, she was fantastic and deserved it.”

The three winners will now start working on their new single and shop until they drop with shopping vouchers.

However, the future also looks bright for Keri.

She won two return flights sponsored by Easyjet and due to the publicity garnered from the competition, Keri has two agents interested in working with her.

While disappointed to end up in second, Jeri was looking at the positives on Monday.

“I would encourage everyone who can sing to enter next year as the experience was for me was invaluable. Maybe I’m grateful now my mum ‘pressured’ me to enter!” concluded the rising young star with a love for singing.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 26 Aug 10

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