OK in MK - Junior Star Singer Songwriter rocks the city of concrete cows!

The Junior Star Singer team were on the road again through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire for the Junior Star Singer Radio Tour in Milton Keynes this time at Secklow Sounds.  Contestants came from surrounding areas all over areas like Bedford, Kempston and Milton Keynes.

With over 200 shops and restaurants in the centre of Milton Keynes, the city is fast attracting a reputation for more than just its famous concrete cows (see below).  

Milton Keynes has helped to give housing to 250,000 people over recent years.  One of the main reasons for the success of this project is the design which was created by urban planners and architects.  They created a strongly modernist design and used the grid  square system for layout.  Milton Keynes now accommodates a vast array of businesses and is a social point for young people as well providing a cinema, ice skating rink, bowling centre and also a radio station called Secklow Sounds......

Secklow Sounds is a fantastic radio station bringing a mixture of different music and collective sounds to Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.  Amanda Neale was really pleased when she was asked to host Junior Star Singer this year on the station.  The contestants were Mahdiya, Morgan, Washeera Basutu and Rochelle Blake who were all competing for the Milton Keynes area.  Good luck to all those wonderful contestants.

Amanda has been busy promoting Junior Star Singer Songwriter not only on Secklow Sounds but also on BBC Three Counties on the Yasmeen Khan show.  She has featured as a regular panellist discussing topics of news and entertainment in the Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire area.

The Secklow Sounds radio show is the latest in our tour which is also helping to raise awareness of the Youth Music charity, which helps disadvantaged youngesters in the UK to realise their potential through music. If you'd like to donate to the charity, please text “TOUR11 £5” to 70070.

Look out for further information on who are the winners for the Junior Star Singer Songwriter Radio Tour, as winners will be announced at the back end of this year. Judges Adam Faires and Anthony Goldsbrough will be picking one winner from each location and then these winners will be singing their way to the top for the final prize.........the chance to sing and song write with a top record producer and then have their song played across all the radio stations for the tour next year.  Stay tuned!!  For further news, plus information on how to sign up to next year's competition,  see Junior Star Singer - a singing talent competition for 10-16 year olds.

Our tour gets a little extra help from the talented kids of Halifax

Think of Halifax and singing and you might end up remembering the series of ads that the Halifax Building Society did a few years ago where members of staff sang to well-known tunes (if you need a reminder, take a look below...)

We wanted to see for ourselves whether the youth of Halifax could go one better, and so, after a quick crafty snooze following our earlier, early morning Bradford show, came in search of young talent to test our theory.

After an early start, Amanda and Rachael took the chance to catch 40 winks before their afternoon show on Phoenix Radio

Luckily, we also had our own little bit of extra help from Howard Priestley of local radio station Phoenix Radio 96.7fm.

With Howard, we met our first duet, Neve and Josh and soloist Emily Taylor-Smith.  Neve and Josh sang their own rendition of the emotional song, Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton, whilst Emily sang Dream a Dream from the hit musical Les Miserables.  You can watch clips of their performances below. 

As always, we were delighted with the talented performances. We loved the classical sound of Emily with the retro sound of Neve and Josh.  It was fantastic to hear something quirky and unusual.  

The show at Phoenix FM is the 11th in the Junior Star Singer Songwriter UK tour, which aims to give young singers all over the UK aged between 10 to 16 the chance to showcase their talents, with the lucky winner getting to record a song with top UK music producer Anthony Goldsborough. The competition will be judged by mentors within the music industry.

Have a listen to our show on Phoenix 96.7FM:

We will be inviting the winning contestant to a London recording studio close to Christmas this year so that they can record their own track which they would have written themselves and collaborated with Anthony Goldsborough and Amanda Neale.

The track will then be played on all of the radio stations that have been on the Junior Star Singer Songwriter Tour. The tour itself works in aid of a charity called Youth Music, which works to help to change the lives of children across the country, investing in projects to help disadvantaged youngsters to find a direction through music and musical expression. Rachael Summers has been telling the listeners about youth music on all of the junior staff singer shows. The whole of the tour is promoted especially to make people aware of the great work that Youth Music does across the UK, so please donate on “TOUR11 £5” to 70070.

Good luck to all the Halifax contestants, you did a superb job. Thanks to Howard too for a very cool show!

Amanda

x  

Making music magic in Bradford

West Yorkshire city Bradford is well known as the birthplace of magician Dynamo, which is why we chose it to work some of our very own musical magic on the Junior Star Singer Songwriter tour.

Amanda and Rachael arrived very early in the morning for BCB's breakfast show with Daniel Carroll presenter of the morning show, watching the sun rise as they arrived to greet contestants for the show.

Contestants all seemed very nervous but very excited as they were asked to take pictures with the hosts before warming up for their slots.  

Left to right: contestant Josie Baker, JSS host Amanda Neale, contestants Mia Tarrobal,
Shania Rowe and Mila Lee, JSS co-host Rachael Summers

In an interview with show host Daniel, Amanda gave the story behind the creation of Junior Star Singer Songwriter and explained how the tour works across the UK.

If anyone would like to enter as well next year, please apply through the Junior Star Singer website on www.juniorstar singer.co.uk  Next year, the Junior Star Singer crew expect to hit more radio stations around the UK, so look out in local schools for information as well as the main website.  Amanda Neale is also a regular Panelist for BBC radio Surrey and Sussex and Three Counties and gives information on the tour in her appearances so listen out for these.   Her next show on BBC radio Surrey and Sussex will be on September 6th on the lunchtime slot on the Allison Ferns show.  

The contestants for the Bradford show were: Shania Rowe, Mia Tarrobal, Josie Baker, Mila Lee. 

With a range of covers and their own material the contestants sang their hearts out for Bradford breakfast listeners at 8 'o' clock on a Saturday morning and were interviewed afterward. While it may have been early, there was no sign of any tiredness or flakiness!!!  Catch a peek at their performance below and choose your favourite contestant.  It's very tough to decide as they are all fantastic.

Later on in the show, Rachael gave information on the charity Youth Music so that listeners could text donate and give to an extremely worthwhile cause.  The whole of the tour is promoted especially to make people aware of the great work that Youth music do across the UK, so please donate on “TOUR11 £5” to 70070.

Looking forward to our next show in Halifax at Phoenix Radio!

See you soon!!XX

An exciting day at Surrey's Brooklands Radio

It was another exciting day for the Junior Star Singer production team on the UK radio tour, as they arrived on their latest stop at Brooklands Radio in the beautiful town of Weybridge in Surrey.  

Brooklands Radio also hosts Brooklands Future Starz, a show for young people to showcase their vocals which has been chocka with requests to have another series.  So we decided to also ask them to host the singing songwriting show Junior Star Singer Songwriter. 

Junior Star Singer Songwriter for Brooklands has gone out to applicants in the Surrey area who are interested in singing and songwriting as a combination.  Contestants will also be joining us at Surrey Hills radio station later in the year for this area.  We have asked contestants to come forward that show a flair and passion for songwriting, as well as great vocal ability.  So watch this space!!!  

Amanda Neale and her co-host Rachael Summers were joined by Graham Laycock, programme controller for Brooklands Radio.  They were excited to meet special guest Luke Richards who is just starting his demo with record producer Anthony Goldsborough.  Luke gave us an insight into what it is like in the day in the life of a songwriter, where some days he can churn out two songs with even the start of a third on its way! Amazingly, Luke has taught himself the guitar after writing his own songs from the time he was 10.  He is now looking forward to his first demo.  

Special guest, Luke Richards

The contestants for Brooklands Radio have been wonderful. The contestants were Olivia Sutton, Farai Chiyambukira, and Telisha Tugwell Robertson.  Catch Olivia Sutton here, who showed great character in her performance at Brooklands Radio.  Olivia is determined she wants to go the whole way in her music career.  With a strong, soulful vocal she is a great contestant for Junior Star Singer and we wish her lots of luck as we do for all our contestants!

Look out for Rachael Summers' tracks on her website www.rachaelsummersjss.com.  Rachael will be co-hosting shows for Junior Star Singer Songwriter up and down the country.  Just finishing her EP, she will be shooting her music video this coming September for her track 'Livin' the Dream', so listen out for further interviews on the radio tour.  Rachael has just supported Linda Muriel of 'Brand New Heavies' and 'Incognito' fame at the Piano Works in London for music show Brooke on the Street. 

If you need any information on the Junior Star Singer Songwriter Radio Tour, please email us through the website Junior Star Singer - a singing talent competition for 10-16 year olds  The tour will be running again next year and applications are welcome now.  See you all soon !!!! XX

Junior Star Singer Songwriter makes itself at home in the home of music

Few cities around the world can lay quite as big a claim to changing the face of music as Liverpool. As the birthplace of the Beatles, the city has made a lasting impact on the music scene, with many of today's musicians still citing John, Paul, George and Ringo as major influences.

We were therefore delighted to be able to add Liverpool to our list of cities in our UK tour. 

We are even more delighted to be lucky enough this to be included in one of the shows for the Liverpool International Music Festival Radio Station. This is held over a period of a month during the year, and is the very first of a grand new project launched by the organisers of the Liverpool International Music Festival. 

The radio station broadcasts locally on 87.7Fm, as well as online.  As a tribute to the city's contribution to modern music, the station reflects both the past and present Liverpool music scene as well as featuring artists and bands who will be taking part in July's event.

The radio station also has an array of presenters and DJs, highlighting the festival's commitment to new talent and the local scene and industry on a global scale.  LIMF radio will also provide training for young people who want to enter the industry.  Sessions are led by BBC Radio 1 presenter Adele Roberts, former founding manager BBC 1 Xtra Ray Paul and Laura Lukanz who is the former music manager of BBC 1Xtra and EVP of First Access Entertainment.

Junior Star Singer Songwriter had two amazing contestants from Liverpool this year.  The first was Tabitha Jade who has already been crowned in London in 2015 for the National Song Writing competition in front of a capacity crowd and panel of judges from Sony and Universal.  

Tabitha Jade

Tabitha was also finalist in two other national talent competitions (TeenStars and OpenMic UK).  She was the youngest ever to play at Liverpool Sound City and has since played at other major festivals in the calendar like Hope Fest, Soul Fest with Gabrielle, Jermaine Jackman (Voice 2014 winner).  Watch when we met Tabitha Jade in Liverpool outside the Cavern Club for an exclusive Junior Star Singer interview.  

Our next Liverpool contestant was Eleanor Nelly, a 16 year old singer/songwriter from Liverpool.  In just three years, Eleanor has played numerous venues and festivals all around the country. 

Eleanor Nelly

Eleanor plays with her newly formed backing band and has amazing strong vocals.  Good luck to both the contestants for Junior Star Singer Songwriter radio tour competition!

For further information on the tour, and information on the coming shows, please see Junior Star Singer - a singing talent competition for 10-16 year olds