2019’s Brit Awards was a huge highlight in February’s musical calendar. On 20 February, thousands tuned in to see who would scoop one of these prestigious awards, and enjoy the incredible talent that donned the stage for the occasion, hosted by British comedian Jack Whitehall.
Continue reading “Celebrating great music at the Brit Awards 2019”
So, after a manic but fun search around the towns and cities of the UK, we finally found our Junior Star Singer Songwriter competition winner for 2018! After spending the day with us at the JSS final in London in December, Phoebe Maddison was announced best singer and overall winner of the competition.
Just like 2017 best group winners, Billy and Louie Hughes, Phoebe came to our attention after her performance in the regional heats on Swindon FM.
Continue reading “Meet our JSS 2018 competition winner, Phoebe Maddison!”
Following on from our success in the Junior Star Singer competition in 2017, we came down to the studios in London, on the day of the final, to perform the demo of the song we co- wrote for the contestants. It must have been hard for the contestants because we only sang it once. Although they had the opportunity to record the demo on their phones, it still must have been a challenging task practising in the same space as all the others who were also busy trying out the song as well!
Continue reading “The Junior Star Singer Songwriter final – the day where everyone was a winner”
A review of Bohemian Rhapsody, by JSS contestant, Marcus Bagley-HodkinThey promised to rock us, and they did. Bohemian Rhapsody tells the breath-taking story of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, right from his job unloading luggage from aeroplanes to blowing everyone away with a standout performance at LIVE AID.
Continue reading “Bohemian Rhapsody – a film that’s guaranteed to rock you”
When you’re running a nationwide contest like Junior Star Singer Songwriter, it can be easy to get so caught up in making sure the shows go smoothly that you forget what it must be like for the contestants as they give their all live on air.
So who better to help us to take a step back and see things from the contestants’ perspective than two of our previous contestants, brothers Billy and Louie Hughes. Billy and Louie were winners of the 2017 Best Group category and have been helping out on this year’s tour, first as special guests and, most recently as part of our interviewing team on our recent show on Radio Dacorum.
Continue reading “Seeing things from the contestants’ perspective”
By Georgia Lois, Junior Star Singer Songwriter Junior JudgeAs a female performer, it’s really inspiring to look to the success of other female singers and groups to see how they’ve broken down boundaries to build musical success. Recent years have seen some great all-girl acts enjoying global success, who have proved that the sky is the limit when it comes to living your dreams and performing on stage.
In this article, I’m going to cover some of my favourites (in no particular order!) and explain why I think they were so successful. I’d love to know whether you agree with my choice and whether you think there are other female groups that should also be included.
Continue reading “My top three all-time favourite girl groups”
By Rachael Summers, co-host of Junior Star Singer SongwriterThe music world was rocked on 16 August 2018 when it was announced that the “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin, had passed away after battling pancreatic cancer.
Continue reading “Our tribute to Aretha Franklin, the true Queen of Soul”
The North of England has already proven to be fertile ground for growing great singing talent, with several of our star performers and winners coming from northern cities. As part of our search for this year’s competition champion, we embarked on a three-day whistle-stop tour of some well-known northern towns and cities to see what we could find.
Continue reading “It’s great up north – the JSS team goes on tour to find great northern talent!”
A group of our Junior Star Singer Songwriter stars came together for a wonderful summer showcase in Mayfair’s Hatchetts venue in Central London on 24th July.
On a balmy evening in the middle of the recent heatwave, artists were interviewed by main presenter Amanda Neale and then sang their hearts out to a packed audience.
Performers included past and present Junior Star Singer Songwriter winners Kasey Wray Wooderson, Chloe Dunne and Billie and Louie Hughes. They were also joined by presenter for the new JSS Theatre Star show, Scott Thornhill; our JSS presenters for JSS Extra South and JSS Extra North, Georgia Myers and Emily Taylor Smith; co-presenter Rachael Summers, new contestant Ruby Jahnke and contestant from last year Sarah Johnston.
Continue reading “JSS stars shine bright at Summer showcase”
