Monday, September 20, 2010
Emma’s Imagination, a solo music act otherwise identified as Emma Gillespie, has been declared as the winner of Must Be The Music, a music talent programme broadcast on Sky1 in the United Kingdom. As the winner of the series, Emma gains a prize of £100,000 (US$155,484, €119,061, A$164,130, C$159,968).
Shortly after being declared as the winner, Scottish singer Gillespie – who defeated five other musical acts in the final – spoke to host Fearne Cotton: “I don’t know what to say,” she said in front of the live audience of 10,000. “Thank you so much for supporting me. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much.”
Sharleen Spiteri, a member of Scottish music group Texas, is one of the three judges on Must Be The Music, alongside jazz-pop musician Jamie Cullum and rapper Dizzee Rascal. “I think there’s going to be a lot of young people who might have sniffed at the idea of doing this sort of programme, who might see this as a different opportunity as musicians,” Spiteri commented. “I think that’s going to change everything.”
In Must Be The Music, artists competing on the programme had to compose and perform their own music. Music tracks from the semi-finalists had become available to download, with all profits being given to the singer-songwriters. “This Day”, the single from Emma’s Imagination, had already achieved number 12 in both the alternative music chart and the iTunes chart by the time of the series’ conclusion, according to Sky News Online.