Live and Unsigned is a music competition in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

for unsigned bands and vocal groups to perform live for substantial prizes. It was founded 2007, and has attracted over 40,000 entrants annually since its inception. Competitors perform in their own genre and style to a paying audience and judging panel. The competition tours the UK holding auditions and finals in various areas and regions, and the Grand National Final is held in London

The O2 The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely within ...

in London being the last used.

History

Live and Unsigned was founded in 2007, in the

. Singers and bands perform original music live in front of a judging panel and live audience. Chris Grayston promoted the event and served as head judge until 2012. As of 2013, Live and Unsigned came now under the management of Mercury Artist Management, Daniel O'Gorman, Mongasta International and Lonesome Road. The new management team implemented significant changes to the submissions process, voting, advertising and PR which they feel make it a far more Musician-Friendly Competition. As of March 2013, Grayston is no longer associated with the competition. The original company was dissolved in 2014. The competition in the North East of England and moving through the regions to London in mid 2019. It is a new style format, with 21st-century technology and Stadia and Live Music venues forming the basis of auditions and finals. The first regional final is set to take place at Sunderlands Stadium of Light after a length of 5 years off the scene.

Organisation

Auditions are held in 3 areas within a region Panels of judges travel attend area finals, with bands then playing regional heats. The winning acts from each regional final then compete in the National Grand Final. Trinity Band 2011

Prizes

The overall winner of the competition is offered a recording and a management contract, as well as an investment to release a single. The 2011 investment prize was £100,000 and an opportunity for a world tour. The grand winner earned a £50,000 recording deal. The winners of all the different categories are invited on the UK Live and Unsigned Tour. There are regional prizes, many prizes are industry specific and also for the benefit and enhancement of the winners music career, tours, supports, cash, studio time etc.

Judges

The Live and Unsigned judging panels have included: * Chris Grayston (2007–2012) *Mike King *

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...

Dane Bowers Dane Leon Bowers is a British singer, songwriter, DJ and producer. He was a part of pop boy band Another Level between 1997 and 2000 when he performed on seven Top 10 singles, before taking up solo projects with True Steppers and Victoria Beckh ...

(2008, 2009, 2010) *

(2009) (former

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

manager) *

Annie Nightingale Annie Avril Nightingale (born 1 April 1940) is an English radio and television broadcaster. She was the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1 in 1970, and is its longest-serving presenter. Early life and career Nightingale was born in Osterley ...

(2009, 2010, 2011) *

Shola Ama Shola Ama (born 8 March 1979) is a British singer from London, who scored her biggest hits with "You Might Need Somebody" (1997), a cover of Randy Crawford's 1981 hit, " You're the One I Love" and "Still Believe" (1999) which was one of the fi ...

(2010, 2011) * Tom Deacon (2011) * Daniel P. Carter (2011, of

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

) * Adam Perry (2011, 2012 of

Bloodhound Gang The Bloodhound Gang was an American rap rock band from Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1988 by rappers Jimmy Pop and Daddy Long Legs (now in Wolfpac) as a hip-hop group, before branching out into other genres as their career pro ...

) *

Ras Kwame Ras Kwame is a British musician, record producer, radio DJ and presenter of Ghanaian heritage."'We ...

(2010, 2011, 2012 of

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

) *Tina Campbell (2012) of Craveonmusic

Annual events

2007

The 2007 Grand Final was held in May 2007 at

Portsmouth Guildhall Portsmouth Guildhall is a multi-use building in the centre of Portsmouth, UK, located on a pedestrian square close to the Portsmouth and Southsea railway station. Constructed in 1890, the building was known as Portsmouth Town Hall until 1926. It ...

to an audience of 2,200 and the competition was divided into age categories. 2007 regional winners included Sean Rumsey. The beat-boxing duet Ghoodfellaz'z, who won the North West region competition, won the Urban Award at the National Grand Final. Hardly Heroes won the under-17s Best Band Award, Fizz Reynolds won the Under 18's Award for female singer and the overall under 18's award and 13-year-old Jake Ward won the Under-18 category for boys. B-Kay and Kazz were awarded the best Live and Unsigned vocal group.

2008

In 2008 Welsh indie/electronic band Kiddo360 won the Grand Final, and went on to win a

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Award.

2009

Auditions for 2009 began that January. Because of high demand, auditions were limited to 500 per region. regional finals took place across the UK and each act performed one cover song and one original song. The London singer RHEA won her Under-18 category at the Finals. Overall winners of the Rock section of the competition were The Detours. The Loaded Dice won the Indie/Pop category, but later declined the contract. Lottery winners 2010

2010

In 2010 the Grand Final for 2010 took place at the

Indig02 The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely withi ...

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Category winners for 2010 included rock band Underline The Sky, acoustic act

Sam Garrett Samuel Alexander Garrett (born 28 August 1990) is an English singer and songwriter. Sam Garrett released his debut EP ''Be Easy (EP), Be Easy'' in 2013 followed by the second EP ''Namaste (EP), Namaste'' released in 2014. In 2016, Garrett releas ...

, and alternative group We Beat The System. The judges voted Indie band

The Lottery Winners The Lottery Winners are an indie pop band from Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. The band was put together for record label Modern Sky in 2008 by Thom Rylance (vocals/guitar), Robert Lally (guitar/vocals), Katie Lloyd (bass/vocals), and Joe Sin ...

as overall winner.

2011

The National Grand Final in 2011 took place at the Indig02 on 23 July, as part of Live Fest at the O2. The Live Fest event also included performances from

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

The Hoosiers ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

Tinchy Stryder Kwasi Esono Danquah III ( ; born 14 September 1986), known by the stage name Tinchy Stryder, is a Ghanaian British, Ghanaian-British rapper, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and investor. Stryder has released three solo (music), solo studio al ...

Roll Deep Roll Deep (formerly Roll Deep Entourage) are a British grime crew. They were founded in 2001 by Wiley shortly before the disbandment of UK garage crew Pay As U Go Cartel. The group have had two UK No. 1 singles, " Good Times" and " Green Ligh ...

Tempa T Nicky Nyarko-Dei (born 7 October 1984), known by his stage name Tempa T, is a British grime MC originating from East London. He is well known for his 2009 single "Next Hype" which is considered an anthem of the UK underground scene. Due to this ...

The Guillemots Guillemots (stylized as gUiLLeMoTs) were a British indie rock band formed in November 2004. The band consisted of three members: Fyfe Dangerfield, Aristazabal Hawkes, and Greig Stewart. MC Lord Magrão, a former member, left the band in June 2 ...

Funeral For A Friend Funeral for a Friend are a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, formed in 2001 and currently consists of Matthew Davies-Kreye (lead vocals), Kris Coombs-Roberts (guitar, backing vocals), Gavin Burrough (guitar, backing vocals), Darran Smith ...

, and

Kids In Glass Houses Kids in Glass Houses are a Welsh rock band from Cardiff. The band's name was inspired by the lyrics "not throwing stones at you anymore" from the Glassjaw song "Tip Your Bartender". The band achieved success on the strength of the singles " Gi ...

. The Filthy Habits won the Indie category, The Robbie Boyd Band won the Alternative category,

The Trinity Band The Trinity Band (aka TTB) is a five piece musical group founded in 2004 from Derby, England. The band consists of Rukus (rapper), Dwaine Hayden (singer), Craig Dawkins (keyboards), James Dawkins (drums) and Pete Sharpe (bass). In May 2010 the ...

won the Urban, Pop, and Acoustic category, and Loud and Proud won the Rock category. Another winner in 2011 was overall runner-up

Lucy Spraggan Lucy Honour Ruby Spraggan (born 21 July 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. She auditioned for ''The X Factor (UK series 9), The X Factor'' in 2012, performing her own composition, "Last Night (Lucy Spraggan song), Last Night". On 3 November ...

, who was initially offered a festival slot in Australia as part of her prize. When the festival was cancelled, organisers at Live and Unsigned offered Lucy alternative prizes including a string of guest act spots at Live and Unsigned and

Open Mic UK Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

shows across the country, a new website, a music video, which at the time of writing has received over 455,000 views, and as a result gained several additional festival slots amongst which included London Summer Jam,

Osfest Osfest was an annual music festival held at Oswestry Showground, organised by Seventh Sense Management. History Plans for the festival were made public in December 2009. The first show took place in 2010 and featured headliner Lemar alongsid ...

, Strawberry Fields Festival, Cockermouth Rock Festival. Lucy went to on achieve a Top 20 single with ''Last Night'', reaching number 2 by the start of the week but finished in at 11th in the Official

UK Singles Charts The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 2 September 2012. despite being removed from iTunes

2012

The National Grand Final in 2012 took place at the Proud2 in The O2 on 14 July, Contraband won the Rock/Metal category, winning themselves a festival slot at Butserfest and a free

Natal Drums Natal Drums (in past known as Natal Percussion Company) is a British musical instrument manufacturing company based in Bletchley, England. The name is a portmanteau of the first names of the company founder and his wife, NATalie and ALan. In 201 ...

drum kit. Leon Bratt won the Acoustic/Solo category, winning himself festival slots at JustSoFestival and Looe Music Festival, as well as free studio time. Molly Smitten-Downes won the Urban/Pop category, winning herself a slot at Sundown Festival as well as free studio time. CoCo and the Butterfields won the Indie/Alternative category, winning themselves a £2,000 Fret King endorsement, a free

TC Electronic TC Electronic (sometimes stylized as t.c. electronic) is a Danish audio equipment company that designs and imports guitar effects, bass amplification, computer audio interfaces, audio plug-in software, live sound equalisers, studio and post-pro ...

amp and a festival slot at Tour Music Fest in Rome. As overall winners, CoCo and the Butterfields were offered £10,000 to spend on the development of their music and a tour of up to 18 festivals, other prizes for CoCo and the Butterfields over the course of the competition included; free studio time, a free Blackstar Amplification amplifier, a free Vintage guitar, a slot at Paddle Round The Pier, and a slot at Beach Break Live.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Live And Unsigned Music competitions in the United Kingdom Music festivals in England Rock festivals in England Recurring events established in 2007 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom