Entertainment

Deacon, virtue and oral gunfire ignite Rising Stars

By TANYA BATSON-SAVAGE Freelance Writer

Daynea Deacon, one of the final six of the Rising Stars finalists performs at the live studio show held at TVJ Studio, Broadcast House, Lyndhurst Road on Sunday night.

ON FRIDAY, THE Rising Stars contestants will be whittled down to five and so not surprisingly contestants have shifted their performances into high gear. So, after weeks of easy cruising, Noddy Virtue slipped into high gear with a fabulous rendition of Rebel in Me while Daynea Deacon continued to stun as she took on Aretha Franklyn and came out shining.

Deacon, who placed second at the end of voting last week, once again showed that she is quite deserving of the over-used title of diva, currently being tossed willy-nilly at all and sundry. Her delivery of Chain of Fools confirmed that she has range, style, class and talent galore.

Raging fan

Virtue too unveiled the full range of his melodious, smoky vocals. His performance of the Jimmy Cliff classic seemed to send one particular fan wild as she filled the air with semi-automatic oral gunfire to signify her enjoyment. Beginning with the "Brap! Brap!" of two rounds fired in rapid succession the fan switched to semi-automatic ejaculations of, "Bratta! Bratta! Brattatatatata" Virtue swung into high gear.

Virtue had been the third of the six contestants to take the stage. Performances began with Prince J who once again returned to his skills at delivering lovers' rock with a reggae rendition of Tears on My Pillow. However, while he received praise from two judges, Nadine Sutherland and Clive McKenzie, he was once again knocked down by Miller. However, screams from the audience suggested that they enjoyed his performance.

Lovers' rock

Christopher Martin also attempted to continue his journey into the lovers' rock. Alas, the foray was not quite as successful as last week's performance. Nonetheless, Martin's delivery of Beres Hammond's Step Aside Now highlighted that his confidence in his performance skills had grown significantly.

Q attempted to return to favour after disappointing last week with their rendition of Footsteps. For the first time they delivered one of their original pieces, Jah Warning. It went over very well with the audience proving an impressive thoughtful piece that was an appreciated departure from the boy-band love songs they delivered at the start of the competition.

However, it was a decided risk as the group is clearly favoured by young girls, for whom sappy love songs are often mother's milk. Jah Warning may however allow them to widen their fan base.

Nonetheless, their performance left Kalvin in tears after the show. His microphone had failed, which, though the audience might have been sympathetic, might have had significant impact on votes since his falsetto is pivotal to Q's magnetic strength. Face, was also attempting to recover from last week but her rendition, Hype, lacked both substance and hype, both of which she severely needed to cover the bruise from last week's fall on Damion Marley's Jamrock.