Duns duo aiming for international pop stardom
AS the nation is gripped by the goings on in this year's X Factor, a Duns singer is a whisker away from reaching the semi-finals of an international competition and her boyfriend is also getting in on the act too.
Brigid Mhairi (16), a pupil at Berwickshire High School, could be on her way to Hollywood after just missing out on a guaranteed semi final spot in iCHOOZ.tv's Next Pop Star Contest.
She has been wowing the site's judges, including singer/songwriter Herschel Boone who has worked with Mary J Blige and R Kelly, over the past month with impressive performances in a number of challenges. She was just pipped to the post when it came to the all important public vote but is now hoping that it's going to be second time lucky.
She has been picked for the wild card stages where the last remaining semi-final spot is up for grabs. And if Brigid achieves her goal and earns herself a place in the next round it will be a fantastic achievement considering she only started taking singing seriously at the start of last year when she received a microphone for Christmas.
Well as they say the rest is history. Brigid started uploading videos of her singing to well known sites like Youtube and Myspace and soon had many people getting in touch telling her how much they liked her music.
It was via her new-found fans that she found out about the iCHOOZ site. She set up a profile and soon had people urging her to audition for the Next Pop Star Contest.
And Brigid admits that the response she's had so far has completely blown her away.
"I was told about iCHOOZ by someone who goes to the site and had seen me on YouTube or MySpace. They said that I should have a go and I am pleased I did.
"You create a profile and upload music, photos and videos which can be entered into auditions if you want. I had made a profile and put up a few videos but didn't expect to be auditioned. I guess the people who befriended me when I joined the site made sure that iCHOOZ staff knew to audition me and pushed for me to be a contestant.
"We were set a number of challenges by the judges throughout the competition- the first week was an original song which best showcases your nationality and musical style, the second was a live performance to show how you relate to your audience which was fun because I love performing in public.
"The third week challenge was to present a music video with your best commercially viable work and the final week we had to take a tune they provided and write the lyrics as well as the melody to it. This was the biggest challenge because not everyone can engage with someone else's tune but it was quite nice and I managed to write my first song for it."
'Alright' was the result of Brigid's first foray into songwriting and it more than cut the mustard for a first effort with Herschel Boone describing it as a song that would send her "soaring to the top."
Well now Brigid is hoping that these words ring true and she'll make it through the Wild Card stages where she'll be up against five other runners up.
And if she doesn't get through Brigid is going to enter again in January in the hope of one day having similar success to her idol Norah Jones.
"I really hope it's me but either way I plan to have fun. I am in my final year at school and want to do well in my exams so this has to make sense to me. I love music and singing and this is a brilliant chance to learn more about the industry but also to enjoy myself.
"I love all music from the great R&B singers and rock acts to the indie musicians but the person I look up to most is Norah Jones. She has an amazing voice and works in a way I can relate to because she seems really shy on stage but delivers a brilliant show."
And as Brigid waits nervously to find out if she's made the cut, her boyfriend Richard Dunn (19) also from Duns, is hoping he'll make it through with her as he is taking part in the November heat.
Richard, the UK's sole representative in the contest this month, won 'Berwick's Got Talent' earlier this year and is hoping he'll gain enough votes to take the iCHOOZ competition by storm too.
After Richard's family supported her so well, Brigid is going to repay the favour to help him make it through to the semi-finals.
"I am really grateful to Richard's family. His grandma got all her friends and family to vote for me which makes me really proud.
"I plan to get him as many votes as I can and hope that the people of Berwickshire will vote for him too. The voting is done by text vote (around 60p) and you have to send this message: get pop7 to this number: 60999. Competition is high but I am sure Richard will do well because he is amazing."
For more information and to support Richard and Brigid visit www.ichooz.tv.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Duns
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 5 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
