UNITED KINGDOM – This morning the BBC revealed the six finalists for teh UK national final Eurovision: You Decide 2017. Months of search by BBC reaching out to professional songwriters and the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. There was an open submission for songs last October and publicly submitted songs were shortlisted by the fans of the OGAE UK. There was also an approach to established authors and singers under the guidance of music executive Hugh Goldsmith. The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) also selected a song from its members.
Olivia Garcia – Freedom hearts: Olivia Garcia is a singer-songwriter based out of Wigan in the North West of England. Olivia’s powerful vocals enable her to perform a wide range of musical styles. Olivia has performed at venues of all sizes, all the way to thousands of people at Wembley Arena. Olivia was a finalist at Open Mic UK 2014, and more recently went to the judges houses in X-Factor 2016. The last 14 months have been spent preparing to share her own music with a wider audience, working on songwriting, performance and studio production with Pip Cadman, alongside the production team at Sugar House. Her Eurovision entry is penned by Swedish team including Gabriel Alares responsible for Eurosongs like “Icebreaker” (Norway 2016), “Falling Stars” (Moldova 2016) and “A Million Voice” (Russia 2015).
Holly Brewer – Whised I Loved You More: Holly is a 21 year-old vocalist & pianist from Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom. Holly’s passion for music developed from a very early age, having experience over the years performing in many different venues across the world in corporate, high profile charity events and weddings including the celebrity wedding of Mark Wright & Michelle Keegan. She has recently been flown out twice to the Seychelles to perform on behalf of ‘Goldstone Live’ for an elite event. On top of being a soloist, she has been performing with live bands for over 2 years at prestigious events including supporting Jess Glynne at Grosvenor House Hotel, ‘Mcfly’ at the Principality Stadium, and alongside Scott Mills at Superdrug’s annual conference. Other VIP corporate do’s including Pandora, Odeon, Next, deVere Group & Virgin Media. Holly has worked for First Family Entertainment in leading roles in their pantomimes at Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, playing ‘Wendy’ in Peter Pan, ‘Beauty’ in Sleeping Beauty and the title role of Cinderella. She most recently played ‘Princess Jasmine’ in 2015/2016 at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton for Qdos Entertainment. She aspires to female artists like Alicia Keys, Emeli Sande & Beyonce, and is a very modern vocalist and pianist, so when she performs, her repertoire includes hits such as ‘Thinking Out Loud’, ‘Love Yourself’, ‘All Of Me’, ‘How Long Will I Love You’, ‘Make You Feel My Love’, and other favourites which she puts her own soulful spin on. Holly is very proud to be an ambassador for the charity ‘Hope For Hollie’ which she has supported and performed at their annual charity ball for the last 3 years. She recorded a charity single for them to raise money and continues to support and do what she can for them.
Lucie Jones – Never give up on you: a song composed by Emelie de Forest, the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest winner from Denmark. Lucie Jones was a contestant on the 6th series of the UK talent show, The X Factor, in 2009. On her first audition, she won over the judges and the live audience with a stirring version of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” earning herself a standing ovation by the live audience, and 4 yeses from the judges to move her into the bootcamp stage of auditions. In bootcamp she sang Christina Aguilera’s “Hurt” and once again wowed the judges, and found herself moving onto the final stage of auditions, where she was picked to be in Dannii Minogue’s top 3 girls for the live shows. She was eliminated from the competition on the 8th of November.
Danyl Johnson – Light Up The World: Singer who found fame when he made the semifinals of the sixth season of The X Factor U.K. He went on to release solo material like the song “Beautiful Life” and was featured on the BUDD & Steve Haines track “Magnetic Souls.” He survived testicular cancer as a young boy. He was a member of the boy bands Upfrunt and StreetLevel before auditioning for The X Factor U.K. X Factor judge Simon Cowell called his performance of Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help From My Friends” the best audition he had ever heard. He has a sister named Janine. He competed against Olly Murs on the sixth season of The X Factor U.K.
Salena Mastroianni – I Don’t Wanna Fight: Salena has a unique powerful voice, deep and soulful, which captures audiences during live performances and on recorded material. Whilst music has always been her main passion, she also has a keen interest in fashion and attained a BA Honours in Fashion Design from Bournemouth Arts Institute receiving sponsorship from Mrs Tina Green, wife of Sir Phillip Green for her final major project. It was Salena’s love for music that lead her to continue her studies and achieve another degree from The Institute Of Contemporary Music. It was during this time that her confidence in song writing and performing grew substantially, so much so that she is now developing her own EP with producers from The Next Room, guys responsible for a number of hits in the late 90’s and continuing to produce music played on the radio today. Having herself grown up in the 90’s, Salena was influenced by her love for Garage music, this is evident in her EP with artists such as MC Neat featuring. In the past she has supported various artists including Lucy Silvas, Foy Vance and Ed Sheeran in 2011.ﾠ More recently Salena has performed alongside Craig David, Shola Ama, Dawn Robinson, the lead singer from En Vogue, Brendan B Brown from Wheatus and since May 2014 is the female backing vocalist for Rita Ora, performing for live tv and radio events across Europe, promotional tours in Asia and numerous festivals such as Radio 1 Big Weekend, V Festival, Capital Summertime Ball, NRJ Berlin and Paris. Salena’s voice whilst great live also excels in a recording studio; this has led to various session works for the likes of Rockschool and in the famous Abbey Road Studios.
Nate Simpson – What Are Made Of: Simpson is the vehicle transporting vocalist and songwriter Nate SIMPSON and his music to your ears. Driven by a clear and uniquely skilled, soulful and fluid voice, accompanied by musicians reacting to his every note, creating the perfect platform for this unique talent. Having played at and for some of the following festivals, venues and organisations’: London Jazz Festival, O2 Headquarters, Stonor Park, The Southbank Centre, The Business Design Centre with honored guest HRH The Prince of Wales, Windsor Festival, The Central Hall of The Natural History Museum, Henley Festival, various events for the 2012 Olympics, restaurants, bars, pubs, clubs to name a few. Look out for their much anticipated, exciting debut E.P fusing pop, funk, soul, R&B and jazz and the chance to catch them live on tour in 2014!
