PIANIST and singer David Barton celebrated in front of an audience of more than 1,000 people when he was crowned the winner of this year’s Talent Trail competition.
He wowed all 10 judges at the competition’s final at Hull City Hall on Thursday with renditions of Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be The Day, Elton John’s Sad Songs and Jools Holland’s Jump For Joy.
The 20-year-old hopes
winning the £2,000 prize and the title will help him move on to bigger and better things.
But it was back to the day job yesterday for the gap year
student, who is currently
working as a shop assistant at stationery store Staples in
Ferensway.
David said: “Being at work isn’t as good as being at Talent Trail. I’d rather be playing my piano than serving customers.
“My colleagues are really pleased for me. I let a few of them know on the night. They all knew I was taking part in the competition.”
Apart from work, phone calls from well-wishers have kept David, of north Hull, busy too.
He said: “Everyone has
been ringing me and asking
me how I’m doing. People
have been congratulating me.
“My parents are over the moon and my dad has been
calling people to tell them how I’ve done. My parents encouraged me to do it, but it was
my own choice to enter the
contest.
“It was something I’d never done before and, to be honest, I didn’t
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think the competition would be as good as it was.”
Singer Russ X took second place and third place was won by mod band the 45s.
David said the judges had a difficult task in picking a
winner, making his victory even more special.
He said: “If I had been
judging, I don’t know who I would have chosen.
“Russ X was very good and I thought the band the 45s were really good too.
“There was some really good competition in there and it was a lot harder than I expected.
“I’m really glad I did it
because I got to meet people I wouldn’t have met if I hadn’t entered.”
The musician is still thinking about what to do with his
winnings, but his first thought is to treat himself.
He said: “I might put some money towards a car. It’s
something I’ve been saving up to buy for a while.
“I’d also like to do some
travelling. Australia is somewhere I would like to visit, so I might put some money towards that too.”
When David started playing the piano he focused on classical music, but since then he has developed a range of styles.
He said: “I’m into everything really, but the thing I most
enjoy is blues and boogie. I did three grades classical piano and a grade four in jazz, but
after that I stopped playing the grades.
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“Boogie is a different way of playing the piano, but it’s the way I really like.”
His father, Fred Barton, plays with him in the band Freddy B And The Honey Dippers.
He said: “Everyone is really excited in our house. The phones have been non-stop. I’m trying to do my job as a forklift manager, but people are calling to congratulate David.
“I was over the moon when he won. I started shouting for him.
“I don’t just play in a band with him, I manage what he does too.”
Mr Barton spoke of his son’s natural ability with music. He said: “He doesn’t read music, he can read it a little bit, but he hears songs and then he plays them.
“My band used to practise
below his room when he was younger. When we were trying to work out how to play a song by listening to it, he would come downstairs in his pyjamas, listen to the song for a few
minutes and come out with all the chords and go back to bed.”
Anyone who missed the
Talent Trail final can catch David at his next gig at Hull Jazz at the Goodfellowship in Cottingham Road, north Hull, on May 14, when he will be performing as part of the David Barton Trio.
He will also be playing at the Giant Bradley Day celebrations in Market Weighton on May 25 and at Pave in Princes Avenue, west Hull, on June 15. |
Talented David on stage at City Hall
Back to work in Staples, Hull
“It was something I’d never done before and, to be honest, I didn’t think the competition would be as good as it was.” |
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