Sixteen-year-old singer-songwriter Rachel Meddings was crowned the winner of Stone’s Got Talent on a brilliant night at a packed Walton Community Centre on Saturday.
Alleyne’s Academy student Rachel wowed the judges with her performances of two self-penned songs: Rain Leads to Rust, and Human. She’s a supremely assured performer, with a beautiful voice and a genuine flair for melody and a great tune. Many people who were there will still be humming Rachel’s two songs for a while, I think. I know I will be!
Second place went to Rachael McTiernan, who sung the life out of two Les Miserables classics. They were two barnstorming, powerhouse performances, and how glasses didn’t shatter when she hit the high notes, I’ll never know.
Third place went to new heavy metal band The Stricken. They only formed in March but look to have a really bright future. A cover version was good for their first number. Their second, original song called Forbidden Tendencies was even better. They’re definitely a band to watch out for. You can find them on Facebook, actually, here – https://www.facebook.com/THESTRICKEN?fref=ts
And here’s their performance of Forbidden Tendencies from Saturday night…
The night wasn’t just about the top three, though. There were seven acts in total and all of them did themselves proud.
Duo Loxi Abbott and Christian Hallam kicked the night off with a brilliant performance of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy. Ten-year-old Lizzie Beard was sensational, her acapella version of Christina Aguillera’s Beautiful both brave and beautiful. Kyle Frid, 14, showed swagger and confidence as he tackled Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness – and pulled it off. Fourteen-year-old Rachael Jenkinson performed songs by Taylor Swift and Katy Perry with a fragile determination. You can find more information about all the finalists HERE
In short, it was a brilliant night, lapped up by an enthusiastic crowd. And huge thanks must go to Ben Owen and Tony Hollinshead, who put the event on. Ben and Tony run the Young Musicians’ Collective in Stone, which gives young people in the town the chance to develop performance skills through performing live and meeting like-minded people. Don’t miss their Showcase event on the first Sunday of every month at Costa in the High Street. You can find out more on their Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/YoungMusiciansCollective?fref=ts
Apologies for the poor quality of many of the photos below (my camera couldn’t quite handle the darkness!) but I wanted to post them all here so we had photos of all the performers…
If you have any photos or video, please do share. Mail to jamie@alittlebitofstone.com or through Twitter or Facebook
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