Music
Jamie Cullum crowns Offbeat South winners of The Big Audition
Published Friday, Nov 25 2011, 10:14 GMT | By Robert Copsey | 5 comments
Jamie Cullum has announced Offbeat South as the winners of The Big Audition.
The singer revealed that the group of 18 to 21-year-olds were the winners of the competition, which aimed to find "real music talent" and give someone a chance to launch their music career.
Cullum said: "Big congratulations to our winners Offbeat South, an act that showed real joy in music making. We didn't want to give the prize to an act that was already polished or 'TV ready' but one that showed raw talent."
The Croydon-based band fought off 7,500 hopefuls and were crowned the winners at the live final held in PizzaExpress in London's Kensington Olympia.
The celebrity judging panel included Sir Michael Parkinson, who gave Jamie his big TV break back in 2003, M People's Heather Small, singer Beth Rowley and Sunday Times music critic Clive Davis.
Cullum set up the competition after he used to perform for £50 a day at PizzaExpress restaurants all over London, where he was eventually spotted and landed a major record deal.
Offbeat South will now perform a special three-night residency at the PizzaExpress Jazz Club in January next year, as well as winning £5,000 to help kick-start their career.
Earlier this year, Cullum surprised Robert De Niro with a performance at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.
Listen to Jamie Cullum's rendition of 'Frontin' below:
The singer revealed that the group of 18 to 21-year-olds were the winners of the competition, which aimed to find "real music talent" and give someone a chance to launch their music career.
Cullum said: "Big congratulations to our winners Offbeat South, an act that showed real joy in music making. We didn't want to give the prize to an act that was already polished or 'TV ready' but one that showed raw talent."
The Croydon-based band fought off 7,500 hopefuls and were crowned the winners at the live final held in PizzaExpress in London's Kensington Olympia.
The celebrity judging panel included Sir Michael Parkinson, who gave Jamie his big TV break back in 2003, M People's Heather Small, singer Beth Rowley and Sunday Times music critic Clive Davis.
Cullum set up the competition after he used to perform for £50 a day at PizzaExpress restaurants all over London, where he was eventually spotted and landed a major record deal.
Offbeat South will now perform a special three-night residency at the PizzaExpress Jazz Club in January next year, as well as winning £5,000 to help kick-start their career.
Earlier this year, Cullum surprised Robert De Niro with a performance at the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.
Listen to Jamie Cullum's rendition of 'Frontin' below:
More: Jamie Cullum, Music
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