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Previous winners include Birdy!

Open Mic Manchester singing opportunity Open Mic UK has been on the search for talent in in the North-West and in Scotland as singers took to the stage last weekend. The music competition has provided feedback for the best unsigned musicians in the area.

Successful contestants in Manchester performed at The Willows in Salford in front of a large crowd and the Open Mic UK industry experts. Judges included vocal coaches, music journalists and A&R managers. The singing competition feedback on selected acts can be seen below.

Judging the unsigned musicians in London were Simon Keegan from The Daily Star, Lesley Mortimor-Wallace who works in wardrobe and design with acts such as Taylor Swift and Kelly Clarkson, Helen Mason from High Peak Radio, vocal expert Tommy Ng, Head of Future Music Chris Grayston and Head of A&R at Future Music Ben Price.

Find industry feedback below. Please be aware views expressed by judges are opinions and subjective to that particular judging panel. These views in no way reflect the views of Open Mic UK, and are published with a view to being beneficial to the performing acts. Please take the feedback on board with a view to helping in the future.

Open Mic Manchester– 16 and under category

Harriet Jane– Haunting voice. Nice idea to work the stage for half the song.  Felt the emotion of the song. Nice transition from behind the keys, think posture and performance tended to loop when perhaps need to interchange to prevent predictability.

Rebecca Smith– Brilliant voice but lost it in one or two places. Needed to work the stage more but overall a very impressive act. Strong vocally but take care not to shout. Song choice was dated and thus didn’t feel modern. Watch out for those high notes, some pitching issues.

Bethany Patton– Voice needs more projection. Could have done with a more edgy image. Work the stage area to put in a real performance. Lovely tone to her voice embracing both lighter and higher notes. Performance needed more punch but will come with more performance as only 12 so in that regards, what potential!

Emily Middlemass– Loads of star quality and a good image. Good to see Emily on keys and writing her own songs. Original needed a stronger hook to link with the well written verse and bridge. Clearly a very talented young girl. Love the image, you really notice her.

George H Jones– I like to hear original material but it needs to be a little less obvious. Needed a more modern cover. Original song wasn’t so strong and needs to be potentially a single along with the cover choices which it felt short on. Cover had good energy but lacked performance.

Kathryn Ronney– Glad you tried to look different but not convinced it worked. Good choice but the song requires more power. Good stage performance. Good song choice but performance lacked the demonstration of passion. Performance needs to have punch.

Avec– Flat in parts needs to be more harmonised. Worked the stage well. Looked great image and performance in synch but harmonies could have been developed, would have given greater depth to the song. Need a more exciting song it felt like this one never got going.

Cole Emsley– Huge song to choose. He has a big voice and hit the big notes. Could have worked the stage a bit more to engage the audience. A bit static. Good vocal needs to work on expression and mic control. With song choice, louder is not always better.

Demz – Started well but lost it on the key change then struggled to get it back. Well acted-out. Second song so much better than the cover. timings improved drastically. Essential to sing in tune and engage with your audience there was too much looking down. Came alive for his own track but again tuning was an issue.

Katy Cotterill– Like this girl. A good image and she has a certain amount of star quality. Wrong cover choice though, didn’t suit her voice. Great to see Katy’s own song but the song wasn’t a hit. Made the song her own but needed singing it higher and with more passion.

Mikki– Nice original song and a nice singing style. Missed a few notes but on the whole an enjoyable act. Mic control needs work, your miles from the microphone need to almost be touching it with your mouth. Both songs sung with a classically twang which shows being over coached in that field.

Open Mic Manchester – Further feedback

KT – Great idea to spice up the performance with a change in pace. Guitar was a little out of tune. Well done for stirring the crowd. First song too soothing and second too busy with too much going on.  Nice tone. Song choice very impressive just not sure on the song arrangement.

Cara Hammond– Nice choice of songs. Cara has a definite quality. Great voice and well performed. Needed dynamics, the performance was a little one dimensional. Nice tone but watch out for pitching issues. Good effort with the song arrangements.

Poggy– Not the song for you, didn’t suit your voice. Well-performed but needs vocal work. Pick songs a little less challenging to your range. Performance was intermittent, when it was performed it was good but not consistent. A simple and age appropriate image.

Victoria Chloe– Not sure on the glittery image perhaps a more modern look would have worked better.  Great voice and a good performance. Song choice was too big. Victoria wasn’t in control of the song. Good to see use of the stage.

Paige Turley– Great image and a good song choice. Needed to work the stage more though to bring a bit of engagement to an otherwise good performance. Paige, song was lovely but the song choice sounded very 80’s. Performance very easy on the eye.

Saskia– Cute factor. Good song choice although vocally not the most challenging so left me wondering if there’s more to show. Would have been nice to see her come to the front of the stage again remember louder is not always better.

Aimee O’Connell– Why why why do accapella surely want to show the performance and song off to the best potential? Also lacked dynamics which the instruments could have helped with. Not sure on the song choice. Would prefer something that told us more about her.

Caroline Eve– Edgy image but not sure it’s cohesive with singing style. Liked the stage work on the cover song and her original song was good also. Again dated song choice although nice transition from keys to performing the stage.

Be Minor– Vocals on point but why accapella and such a dated song? Good, but not the polished, finished article yet. There is potential for the girls to be very good. One or two off-notes but generally harmonies very good.

Beth Adams– Strange song choice. Yes it Christmas but not the best song to show who you could be as an artist. Better second song. Again, a song choice from my Mum’s record collection. Very stage school and this is where you can see Beth performing in the future.

Paul Clark– Awful song choice! We need to find an artist for the future and this is too retro. Cracking voice nonetheless.  Felt the meaning of the song. A bit ‘shouty’ at times. Paul needs to find an identity and make himself more original to reach his potential.

Izzy Wood– Well performed. Good voice, lots of range in there and strong. Good image and worked the stage well. Watch your breathing. You often add an ‘h’ in words beginning with vowels. Stage and body movements need work and there one or two tuning issues.

Daniel Crawford– Brave song choice it leaves your vocals exposed and they cracked up a couple of times. Image needs to be bit more edgy. Be careful to get tuning spot on. Try for a more age appropriate image. You need to understand the meaning of the song.

Rhiannon Hill– Not sure you needed heels. Liked the song choice but could have worked the cowgirl theme into your image. Looked short of confidence. Need to perform the song more. Awkward start need to perform from the start. Very relaxed and natural performance.

The guest act for the day was Lucy Spraggan, who treated the crowds to her brilliant trademark performances.

Open Mic Manchester, Enter Now!

All successful acts at the North-West and Scotland Area Final will now be performing in the live Grand Final at London’s O2 on 21^st January. Come along to see the best unsigned talent!

Don’t miss your chance to perform in front of industry professionals! You can enter Open Mic UK now!