Hold On!!! this young man was one of over 1,400 contestants who auditioned for Digicel's Rising Stars auditions held at the National Stadium in Kingston, on Saturday. - Nathaniel stewart photos

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Digicel's Rising Stars ran its last lap of auditions in Kingston last Saturday and Sunday in Kingston. Sunday's auditions held at the Knutsford Court Hotel saw some powerhouse performances from the females.

Kingston saw the largest number of entrants with approximately about 1,400 contestants, which was cut down to a little over a hundred for the second day of auditions.

Getting off to a late start, the hopefuls from the day before anxiously sat in the audition room awaiting their fate. Some sat quietly while others sang in corners, stairwells, anywhere there was a free space. After 10 a.m., the action kicked off with a bang as three consecutive females gave well- rehearsed and vocally-talented performances.

Looking for the best

However, with high expectations from Kingston, the judges were looking for the only the best and a number of contestants got sent home.

The women outnumbered and out-performed the men for the day, from strong clear voices, to smoky, deep jazzy voices to opera, the females showed that they were ready to win.

There was even one or two all female groups.

One of the groups had good hand movements and dance routine, but did not get chosen while another female group whose voices blended like experts, received a slip.

The men, however, were not to be outdone as one young man in black blew the audience away with his strong voice, receiving a slip from the judges.

Tables turned

Judge Nadine Sutherland said she was really impressed with Kingston. For her, this year the females really shone. "The tables turned this year, there are usually a lot of male singers. The quality and quantity of this year's female vocalists were some good, good singers. We have rising stars material, I hope the voters see that, there could be a winner in the females," she said.

Anthony Miller was pleasantly surprised by Kingston's talent, saying "basically we heard the talent wasn't so good, but it turned out to be good. It was easy to choose a top ten." He elaborated that what also surprised him was the number of persons singing gospel who were really talented. He said "there was some strong people in gospel which doesn't usually happen. Gospel is not something that is usually strong in talent shows but people singing church was strong."

As the auditions came to a close the judges weighed in, Nadine could see that overall the bar has been raised, the contestants showed that they had done voice lessons and rigorous practice. The top ten for each parish now eagerly awaits the next stage of Digicel's Rising Stars.

Contestants at Digicel's Rising Stars auditions held at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday, spared a moment to catch up on their reading with sponsor The STAR.