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Previous winners include Birdy!

This weekend the judges were in Basildon, for the first live show of 2010! Thousands of acts entered Open Mic UK this year and some of the best unsigned acts in the country took to the stage at the Towngate Theatre in Basildon on 18.9.10.

Here the judges give us some feedback from the event, but remember, it could all change at the Area Finals!

Please note: views expressed by Judges are opinions and in no way reflect the views of Open Mic UK

Judges at Basildon included; Big Brother winner Brian Belo, ICMP’s Jonathan Whiskerd, Vocalist Jules Pretorius and Future Music’s Chris Grayston

Under 18’s Feedback;

Georgia Evans; Jules; stage presence needs work but it was a very good performance. Chris; Georgia needs to use the stage more, perform more and combat the nerves. Brian Belo; great, fun voice.

Lewis Archer; Chris; the performance was very routed to the spot and there needs to be more work on the breathing. Jules; thought you had excellent phrasing. Brian; there is great potential. Jonathan; needs to work on body language and needs to engage with the audience.

Cassie Owen; Jules; The girl can sing the blues. Jonathan; great outward performance, great voice and control. Good image and tasteful interpretation of song. Chris; birthday girl chose a good song for her range with a Nora Jones cover.

Chelsea-Ullaina Low; Brian; needs more practice but good image. Jules; enjoyed original song with good vibrato. Jonathan; needs to work on vocal technique but made a real effort to engage the audience which was good. Chris; original was a lot stronger than the cover as the keys started getting a little shaky and lacked flow.

Fab sisters; Chris; looked great with matching costumes, just need to watch mic control. Jules; nice to watch and listen too. Brian; great voices. Jonathan; good song choice and strong performance especially for their age.

Izabella Speight; Jules; well rehearsed performance excellent phrasing although just needs to work on breathing. Chris; good song choice matched with image and performance which grew as the performance went on. Brian; good image.

Leanne Roberts; Chris; good to see a few original songs from the under 18’s again the original was performed better than the cover. Jules; excellent song well performed with quirky voice and originality. Jonathan; no energy in performance, needs to be more engaging.

Melissa Caithlan; Jules; a difficult song but covered it well, use vocal technique i.e. breathing to aid nerves and work the stage a little more. Chris; needs to use the stage, perform more and combat the nerves.

Nicole Hastings; Chris; Just needs to watch tuning (chorus sung in wrong key) because she has a good voice and just needs to learn to control it better. Jules; too big a song however great voice excellent phrasing.

Rosie Tooze-East; Brian; great showman ship which kept me captivated. Jules; lovely tone to her voice and great style. Needs to control voice a little more on the higher notes. Chris; Most accomplished and confident singer so far in the show.

Serene; Chris; duo from Southend bit of shakiness in the voices but lots of potential, you need to learn to perform as one. Jules; great individual voices with fab harmonies however no chemistry between them, need to perform with each other.

Sophie Wythe; Jonathan; nice image with strong vocal but needs to work on control. Chris; Great confidence for someone so young! Also performing an original from her Dad good job. One to Watch.

Steph Coles; Chris; On My Mind was Steph’s original and was performed powerfully with passion. A picky point, watch mic control as that could be worked on but overall very strong. Jules; excellent musicality.

Vicky Collingwood; Jonathan; confident performer very engaging but slightly over sung in places. Jules; training will provide extra control in situations. Chris; Needs to control the warbling of the voice. Work on the tone and dynamics to give greater entertainment.

Nikki Cubberley; Jules; Unique tone and good use of vocal technique. Use stage to encaptulate audience, you have star quality. Jonathan; very strong vocal needs to work on image. Chris; Strong choice of two covers for her set song sung powerfully with purpose.

George Redwood; Chris; Picked a Buble number and did it justice just needs to be careful with timing and image could improve. Jonathan; very strong vocal with engaging and entertaining performance. Jules; confident performer with good control of voice.

Ellie Hunter; Brian; great voice and energy. Jules; excellent performance, great vocals and control. Great end to the show. Jonathan; both engaging and entertaining.

Dopeboyz; Chris; need to get more organised off stage but you look good on stage. Try to avoid all spitting at the same time as lacks clarity of message.

Please note: views expressed by Judges are opinions and in no way reflect the views of Open Mic UK.