Begins January Frequency Annually Inaugurated 2013 | Ends July Years active 5 Genre Music competition | |
 | ||
Location(s) IndigO2, London, United Kingdom; National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom | ||
Chandalier sia performed by hollie robinson at the teenstar singing contest
TeenStar is a singing competition in the UK, it is run by Future Music. The competition is open for singers, vocalists and solo artists to enter either in their Teenage or pre teen years. Acts compete at regional auditions to get the chance to perform live at live music showcases to reach an annual national final, which for its first the first Grand Final in 2013 was held at the IndigO2 in London, and more recently at The NEC in Birmingham.
Contents
The winner of teenstar 2014 goodnight kiss performed by emily middlemas
Overview
The singing competition was originally devised by Chris Grayston in his capacity as CEO for Future Music. The first year saw over 9,000 applications. Entrants compete in a series of local and regional heats for a chance to perform at the National Grand Final at the IndigO2 within The O2 in London.
Categories
Singers, rappers, groups, and acoustic singer/songwriters of all genres are accepted as competitors. The competition is divided into three age categories; pre-teens (12 years and below), mid-teens (13–15 years of age) and late teens (16 years old and over).
Judging
Acts can perform either covers or their own original material live, and demos and recorded material are not accepted. Judges from the music industry, celebrities and record labels score all performances on the basis of vocal/musical talent, stage performance, star quality, and individuality, and the winning acts in the age categories must earn the most points from judges. There is also a point where the audience can vote in order to aid those in the judges' top scores to make it to the next round of the competition.
The judging panel that crowned Luke Friend 2013's winner included; former BBC Radio 1 DJ and Choice FM presenter Ras Kwame; four time Ivor Novello Awards winner and one half of the successful garage duo Artful Dodger (UK band) - Mark Hill (musician); Choice FM presenter E Plus; The X Factor's Jake Quickenden; Capital FM producer and celebrity journalist Jon Hornbuckle; editor of TeenStar partner Shout (magazine) Ali Henderson; Head of Baby Girl Music Michael King and Head of Future Music Chris Grayston.
Prizes
In 2013, there was an overall prize pool of £20,000 throughout the competition including prizes at each regional stage of music lessons and recording studio time.
The main prize for 2013 was a cash prize of £5,000 for the winner to spend on advancing their music, plus a promotional package reportedly worth an additional £10,000 and an extensive consultation package provided by Future Music.
2013
The first TeenStar singing competition took place in 2013. After a series of localised and regional finals which took place around the UK including NEC, Sheffield City Hall and the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle, the National Grand Final took place at within The O2 in the IndigO2 in London.
Among the performers at the National Grand Final were Saffron Silva from Surrey and Michael Rice from Hartlepool who both got signed to BGM/Future Music. Other winners included overall competition runner-up SweetCheeks from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. The pre-teen age category winner was Chloe Wealleans from Northumberland, the runner-up was Harlee from Warrington, Cheshire and third place was Musty from Enfield, London. The mid-teen age category winner was SweetChix, with the runner-up being Michael Rice and third place going to Emily Middlemas from Glasgow. The late-teen age category runner-up was Bud from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. Michael Rice was later to feature on The X Factor (UK TV series) and SweetChix got to the final of the ITV's Britain's Got Talent (series 8).
The 17-year-old singer/songwriter Luke Friend won both the late teens and the overall competition. He performed his own song at the competition called "Fame of the unfortunate girl" in front of a sellout 2,500 people, both singing and playing guitar. He won a cash prize of £5,000, which he used to purchase studio time to record his album in River Studios in Southampton where Birdy also first recorded her album before getting signed to Warner.
Since winning TeenStar, Luke friend has gone on to enjoy further fame through The X Factor (UK TV series) eventually coming third to overall winner Sam Bailey.
2014
The 2014 National Grand Final took place at The NEC in Birmingham and after coming third in the previous year Emily Middlemas took the title. Emily has been entering Future Music singing competitions since the age of 8 and has progressed to more National Grand Finals than any other act in Future Music history. Emily has appeared in National Grand Finals including Open Mic UK, Live and Unsigned and TeenStar on no less than 5 occasions.
In a similar journey to Luke Friend in the previous year, Emily then starred in The X Factor (UK TV series) and made it to the judges' houses.
Other winners included pre-teens winner Jake McKechnie from Wigan and late teens winner Victoria Bass from Folkestone; but it was mid teens winner Emily Middlemas singing her original song "Goodnight kiss" who won the overall title. Many of the placed acts were picked up by Syco and featured on the X Factor.
2015
The 2015 National Grand Final again took place at The NEC in Birmingham on 25 July and the overall winner was Rachel Ann Stroud from the mid-teens category with a striking version of "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak. Rachel, hailing from Bournemouth, won with 115 marks. Second in the mid teens category was Tasha Jerawan from Cannock and Talis Eros from South Wales came third.
The pre teens category was won by Breeze Redwine with an original song, "Here Alone", Breeze gaining 122 points in the Final. Second place went to Tazmin Barnes from Tewkesbury and third place to Evan from Shoebury.
Late teens winner Eli scored 122 marks with her original song "About You". Eli, from Bromley, was ahead of Georgia from London in second and We!Are from Hanwell in third place.
Judges included four time Ivor Novello award winner Mark Hill, James Meadows (A&R from Universal Music), Andy Baker (Music Manager from Resound Media), Rock School’s Stuart Slater, Editor in Chief of Shout Magazine Laura Brown and head of Future Music Chris Grayston. For the pre teen category Dutch Van Spall from Big Help Management replaced James Meadows.