Tanya Batson Savage, Freelance Writer
AS THE first live show of Rising Stars 2005 prepared to air from the TVJ studios, one of the judges, Anthony Miller, commented that he hoped there were no suicide bombers in the house. Simultaneously, the contestants were probably hoping that none of them would bomb.
A great performance that could wow not only the judges but the rest of the television audience could be the first step on a glittering road to stardom. Being impressive on that first night might well set them on the path to a life of stellar proportions.
Even so, not all of them would escape Miller's famous sniper comments and, unfortunately, a few impressed none of the judges.
PULLED ANOTHER CLASSIC
The night of performances, hosted by a fabulously-dressed Denise Hunt began with Christopher Martin. He had succeeded with the Stevie Wonder classic I Don't Wanna Bore You.
On Sunday, he pulled on another classic with Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home. A few notes in, the audience was murmuring along, snapping fingers and nodding heads. Indeed. he found favour with judges Nadine Sutherland and Clyde McKenzie, who said he brought freshness to the tune.
However, Miller sent a zinger in his sails arguing that Martin had gone into retro overkill.
The Savannah-la-mar quartet Touch (Jermaine Coote, Kempton Blair, Patroy Shand, and Christopher Parnell) also went the classic route with My Lady Soul, unfortunately they left all three judges untouched by their performance.
Montego Bay's Keisha Clarke also had trouble impressing the judges. Miller damned her outright by calling her performance of Saving All My Love For You competent and the other two judges damned her with faint praise.
WINGS SLIGHTLY SNIPPED
Chantelle 'Chanti I' Smith also got her wings slightly snipped. While Sutherland and McKenzie doled out praise, Miller slammed her performance of John Legend's Ordinary People as ordinary though the song's bridge, which had been giving her trouble the day before, had been removed.
Nathaniel 'Nate' Hewitt, Melvin 'Prince Jay' Gayle, and Shanique 'Face' Wilson all received praise from all three judges.
Interestingly, all three performers had delivered original pieces and represented very different kinds of music. 'Face' delivered hard core DJing, while 'Nate' took the roots reggae slant and 'Prince Jay' dropped some lover's rock.
Voting for the contestants continues until Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. when it will be decided who will be sent home.
