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Previous winners include Birdy!

This weekend the judges were in Portsmouth! 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 Guildhall on 16.10.10 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 Portsmouth included vocal coach Alison Kinnaird, from Vocal Tutor Amelia McCloskey, International performer and vocal coach Rosalind Fountain, Vocal coach for Igloo Music and Head of voice of Portsmouth Festival Dielle Lodrick and Future Music’s Chris Grayston.

Under 18's;

Ellie Jones;  remember to use the stage. Strong voice, lots of power, needs to think a bit more about image.

Joseph Medwey; Think of all the performance and watch mic control when performing. Confident performance and good use of stage.

Faye Carpenter; Lovely voice but very static on stage need to develop the performance. Work on interpretation and mic control but good performance.

Shannon Essery; More performance will give her confidence in her movement and stage presence. Powerful voice but need to relax and enjoy it, and work on control of voice.

Lauren Medwey; Made it to the final of Idol 2008 so the experience shows. Be nice to see her work on some of her own material or work with a songwriter. Lovely performance, looked comfortable on stage, just develop the lower tones.

Amberley Orchard; Use the stage and be more purposeful with performance. Great image, work on breath and vocal control.

Pink Boot Amy; Great idea the name and image. Cover was a stronger performance than the original. Backing track with acoustic guitar drowned out vocals, great image and passion.

Ash Blakeley; Fantastic compliment on keys, thought the breakdown to acapella didn’t work but perhaps a change in dynamics to make it more captivating. Great act just watch your mic control.

Emily Grace; Perform with the eyes and facial expressions. Great performance but connect more with the audience.

Gemma Payne; Lovely tone of voice but stage not used which limited the engagement to the audience. Good image.

Georgia Carr; Good choice of cover and good use of expressing. Very confident performance but needs more of a perfomance, perhaps the wrong song choice?

Hattie Temperley; No chemistry between performers left it feeling an empty hollow performance. Vocally good but needs to project to audience more. Nice interpretation of song but be more confident in your performance.

Carolina Blue; very polished cover great harmonies. Good projection and excellent performance, but interact with each other more on stage and don't compete vocally.

Joshua Selimi; Engage direct with the audience lot of looking down. Great image and tone.

Kimmy Reader; Be careful not to style yourself too much on any particular act in the charts. Good blend from original to the cover.Very energetic and expressive performance.

Lewis Mackenzie; Guitar was a bit monotonous and that would have made the performance more exciting if played around with the chords. Good voice but perhaps a bit of training to get the most out of it.

Mary Beth; strong vocally and worked the stage well. Song too overdone so perhaps wrong song choice?

Megan Philp; Was a well thought out performance  and image but needed more conviction. Very entertaining act.

Sarah de Warren; What a fantastic voice and engagement backed up with some lovely keyboard playing. Develop support on lower range, lovely tone but need to connect more with audience.

Sophie Thompson-Smith; Needed to stand closer together on stage. Good stage presence but be careful with tuning. Would like to hear more dynamics.

Oli Evans; Didn’t love the song choice been done too many times. Worked the stage well. Lovely energy, imitates the artist too much would like to see more of a performance.

Sam Graham; Nice original and smooth transition between cover and original. Lots of energy and good stage manner!

Paige Robinson; What a voice and intensity remember to concentrate all the way through the whole song.  Good vocal control for her age, well suited to musical theatre - keep training!

Jamie Eldridge; Strong performance, watch the breathing as depleted the vocal at times. Song choice wasn’t that inspiring. Energetic and good use of stage.

Sara Fawcett; Happy to listen to more of Sara really powerful. Good control of voice use dynamics to colour your performance.

Shannon Lyford; Confident! Beautiful tone on soft notes, good mover on stage. Control those fingers on the mic, very distracting.

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