- Photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
LEFT: One Third in action during the recently concluded Digicel Rising Stars 2006 competition. RIGHT: Gyptian won the Portmore Star Search in 2004.

Kandre McDonald, Freelance Writer

Hitting the spotlight is the dream of many artistes and talent contests have proven to be the avenue to the big times for many, providing them with needed exposure and propelling them to stardom.

Popular talent contests in recent years include the Tastee Talent Contest, the Portmore Star Talent Search and Digicel Rising Stars.

Performers such as General Degree, Papa San, Yellowman, Paul Blake, Henry Brown, Father and Son, ARP, Diana Rutherford, Cobra and Beenie Man have all passed through the Tastee Talent Contest.

Beenie Man won the title at nine years old and has gone on to win a Grammy and sign a deal with Virgin Records.

Other success stories of the contest are Yellowman and Papa San. Both have made strides in their careers since winning the competition and Yellowman has been nominated twice for a Grammy.

Henry Brown, another Tastee Talent fame, was inducted in the USA's Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame for his talents in editing, directing and singing his original music video Bittersweet.

Nadine Sutherland

The first winner of the contest, Nadine Sutherland, known for songs such as Action, a duet with deejay Terror Fabulous, was 11 years old when she won contest's inaugural staging in 1979.

Like their predecessors, current winners of the Tastee Talent contest are looking to break into the spotlight. Last year's winner David Thomas, who now goes by the stage name 'Pound Gain', has been voicing and has been trying to push himself into the spotlight.

"I voice the song that won the competition the following day for Champagne International Records. I am supposed to get a contract with Jack Scorpio and internship at School of Music," he said.

"It is competitions like Tastee make it happen for me. They push me out there," he said.

The mother of Tastee Talent Contest 2004 winner, Winston Ramsey, said the 14 year-old has benefited handsomely from the competition.

"He got a music contract and has been on a tour to Barbados. Although he is not doing any real recording now we are talking with Beres Hammond as a means of trying to get him out there. Tastee keeps shows that they invite him to perform on, but that's all that is happening at this time," she explained.

Crystal, who placed third in that contest, is looking forward to a career in music. "It does a lot in exposing you, even more than (other contests)," she said about Tastee.

However, if Chris Martin and Noddy Virtue's success is anything to go by, scores of budding artistes have benefited considerably from the Digicel Rising Star's competition, which has taken Jamaica by storm.

New oppotunities

"I can't really complain. Since winning the competition I have met a lot of new people and get to go to a lot of new places," Martin said.

He says that music is a special part of him and even though he has won the competition and has been doing well since then there is "no change in personality and attitude, but there has been an increase in my popularity. Right now I am writing some material because no artiste can survive off covers".

For Noddy Virtue "life has been good after the exposure; lots of shows, plus I have been approached by lots of producers and promoters. Full-fledged music career now".

"Rising Stars is one of the best thing to happen to Jamaica," he added.

Driven to excel

Miguel Walters, Alpheus O. Johnson and Adrian Campbell, collectively known as One Third said they were driven to excel in this year's Digicel Rising Stars competition not only for want of achievement and recognition.

"It's like a personal sense of achievement," Al remarked in an earlier interview.

One Third will now take up a one-year management contract with Shocking Vibes Limited, which is part of their prize, as they seek to take the next step up the ladder in their musical journey.

Another competition that has produced a fast rising star is the Portmore Star Search. The competition showcased the now popular reggae singer Gyptian in 2004.

"Competitions like these benefit the music and bring talent to the forefront," Gyptian said. "It was especially good for me. Music is the only thing that will transpire eternally and the idea of doing conscious music has become a part of me."