Francine Black, Staff Reporter

Rising Stars 2008 winner, Cameal Davis. - Nathaniel Stewart Photos

It was a star-studded line-up that brought the curtains down on the 2008 season of the Digicel Rising Stars competition. The concert was held at the Mas Camp Village , St Andrew on Friday night.

A line-up of popular past and present Rising Stars contestants teamed with popular gospel, dancehall and reggae acts, made the concert an unforgettable one.

The show kicked off immediately after Cameal Davis was crowned champion of this year's competition. Juggling by Coppershot and mini dance and singing competitions held earlier by Kiki, created a party vibe that the crowd was eager to keep going.

In the first segment of the show, Sebastian Pierre, the Haitian Rising Stars winner, Top Team, Secret Melodies, Nigel Watson, Tiffany and R3 all thrilled the crowd with their brief yet spicy performances.

Strong response

Gospel artiste, Goddy Goddy, then took things to another high when he did his version of The Lord is My Shepherd. He also saluted Usain Bolt with his original rendition, Bolt to di Worl.

Laden, a former contestant on the show, was next doing two hit tunes, Sorry and Time to Shine. Leisha Rose and Wayne Williams also received strong response from the audience and fifth-place finisher Lashana Stephenson, proved that she was indeed talented with a powerful performance of Many are Called, River Deep and Mountain High.

K'Alee was a hit with the audience doing Take a Bow and I Believe. She was then joined on stage by Ce'Cile and both performed Waiting. Ce'Cile also did Gangsta Guy before making way for last year's winner, Romain Virgo. His performance of Ex-Girlfriend, Lets Get It On and his original tune Caan Sleep went over well with the audience. He capped off the performance with It Tears Me Up, which he did with girl group SLR.

SLR performed well despite being booed by some members of the audience. "All who hate wi, wi love unnuh, dats why we caan stop di music," a member of the group declared then moved into Rihanna's Please Don't Stop the Music.

Former winner of the competition, Chris Martin was next and as soon as he entered the stage, all the women wanted him to do was to take off his shirt. He later obliged, but not before denouncing abuse against children and doing a prayerful tune for Jamaica.

Energy god

He then turned his attention to the women and during his rendition of Take My Love, he began to remove his shirt, with the assistance of Kiki and Yendi Phillipps, to show his muscular arms.

He rounded out his performance with Nah Bow and Man a Galiss, making way for crooners, LUST, who once again kept the focus on the women.

The vibe in the venue was changed to a dancing one with the introduction of the energy god, Elephant Man. He delivered Gully Creepa, Warm Up and Sweep. Ele also brought out Kahlil to join him in doing the Nuh Linga.

The dancehall vibe was kept going with Busy Signal. He delivered tunes such as Pan di edge, Step Out, Bad Man Place, These Days, Hey Girl and many more.

However the audience was more interested in seeing Cameal, calling for her to be brought on stage. Before the wish was granted, Kahlil had to do a set and an energetic and well put together one it was. The women screamed almost non-stop throughout the performance which included Moving on Up and Overcome.

Rising Stars 2008 winner Cameal Davis shares the stage with Marcia Griffiths at the competition's final concert at the Mas Camp Village on Friday night. - Nathaniel Stewart

Cameal came out on the Freeway of Love before visiting the Land of Love. The audience was treated again when Marcia Griffiths joined her on stage.

Griffiths did her mega hit, Electric Boogie before handing back to Cameal who brought the house down with her rendition of Jennifer Hudson's Spotlight. The top 10 finalists closed the show with a combined performance of the Reggae Boyz anthem, Rise Up, signalling the end of an entertaining final concert.

Rising Stars 2008 first runner-up Kahlil, entertains the audience.

DIGICEL Rising Stars

A section of the crowd at the Rising Stars final concert at the Mas Camp Village on Friday.

The Group LUST

Deejay Elephant Man

SLR