Chris Martin
Chris Martin was a winner of the competition in the 90's when he was just 15 years old, although at that time it was known as The National Youth Rock and Pop Awards. Chris received encouragement and support after winning and he has remained actively loyal and supportive ever since.
Chris’ phenomenal rise with his band, Coldplay, continues the story with four ambitious musicians who got together because they wanted to write great songs. Coldplay hit huge success almost immediately with their first album Parachutes with hit songs including Yellow and Trouble. The album went on to receive a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize in 2002.
Their second album 'A Rush of Blood to the Head' was even more popular with audiences and critics alike. It firmly established Chris, Will, Guy and Jonny as one of the biggest bands in the world.
Melanie Armstrong
Born and raised in Liverpool, Melanie Armstrong began her career with Our Price Records in Birkenhead. She later joined HMV, working initially as a Christmas temp at the company's flagship store in London's Oxford Street.
Eventually a move to Head Office followed, where Melanie took on the role of Specialities Buyer and then Music Manager for Ireland. A bigger promotion followed when Melanie was appointed the Rock & Pop Manager for the whole business, and this led to her current senior role as Music & Merchandise Manager for HMV UK and Ireland.
Dawn Joseph
Singer and Songwriter Dawn Joseph, is fast becoming one of the UK's most promising new talents.
After signing a major deal with Sony Music Publishing, shortly after her arrival in London from her roots in Jersey, Dawn felt the best way for her to showcase her songs, was to get involved in the music production and so she set up a studio in her North London home. It would take a while for her to find her feet, but as soon as she created the right sound, people soon started to take notice.
Dawn has had continued success with major label artists, and her previous works include, The Honeyz (Never Let You Down), Nate James (Set The Tone,III Decline), The Sugababes (Disturbed) and Atomic Kitten (Follow Me). As bass player and guitarist, Dawn is also a sought after session musician, and has played with the likes of Phil Collins, Anastacia, Louise Redknapp, Eros Ramazzotti, Daniel Bedingfield and for the last three years, British RnB sensation, Craig David. She has just finished a World Tour with Sir Cliff Richard.
Steve Levine
Beginning his career as a trainee tape-op at CBS studios in 1975, Steve soon progressed to in house engineer working with many now classic new wave & punk acts including The Clash, The Jags, The Vibrators, XTC as well as many of CBS records pop acts, including Sailor.
Beach Boy, Bruce Johnson was to play an important part in Steve's early career, culminating with Steve producing an album for the Beach Boys several years later. Steve also produced all of Culture Club’s classic hits and the band’s three multi-platinum albums. Since then he has worked with a wide spectrum of artistes and composed a number of film scores.
Artists collaborations include Honeyz, China Crisis, Gary Moore, Ziggy Marley, Louise, The Creatures, Lemmy & Motorhead, David Grant, Westworld Mis-teeq, Also, 911 & “Grief Never Grows Old” the official DEC Tsunami record.
Steve has collected a number of prestigious awards including BPI Producer of the Year, Musicweek Top Singles Producer and a Grammy for his work with Deneice Williams.
Steve is a regular guest speaker at various pro-audio seminars for companies such as Yamaha & Korg & Apple Computers and manages production master-classes at the Apple store in London.
In 2009, Steve was again asked to join Chris Martin and Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe on the official judging panel of the Make It, Break It Awards (MIBI). This prestigious annual songwriting competition, supported by LIPA with founding partner Yamaha, appeals to young musicians who are passionate about writing & making music.
His radio production company Magnum Opus Broadcasting produces several shows for the BBC; in particular, The Record Producers a radio documentary series for BBC Radio 2. This acclaimed series focuses on the art of record production from the producer’s perspective.
He has also appeared on many radio and TV programmes; he is a regular guest on BBC's 6 Music.
Guy Moot
Guy Moot joined the music industry in 1984 as a talent scout for ATV Music before spending an eighteen month stint at Chrysalis Records as A&R Manager.
In 1987 he joined SBK Music Publishing ahead of its merger with EMI two years later.
Guy rose through the ranks of EMI Music Publishing before being appointed executive vice president of A&R for the UK and Europe in 2003. Two years later he succeeded Peter Reichardt as Managing Director of the UK business.
During his time at EMI Music Publishing Guy has signed some of the biggest songwriters around, including Arctic Monkeys, James Blunt, White Stripes, Sean Paul, Ms Dynamite, Amy Winehouse, Scissor Sisters, Jamiroquai, Kasabian, Eminem and StarGate.
EMI have won Music Weeks Publisher of the year award for a record 12 consecutive years running and have been awarded ASCAP’s Publisher of the Year four times so far! We have recently won five awards at this years Brit awards.
Guy continues to push the company with new business developments, having overseen the merging of the media department and diversifying into areas such as producer management.
Mark Radcliffe
Mark Radcliffe is currently presenting a show on Radio 2 alongside Stuart Maconie having for many years been a fixture at Radio 1 as one half of Mark and Lard.
He is passionate about music and has never played a dodgy track without arguing the toss with management, only backing down when threatened with the sack; he has three children to feed after all. He has himself played in bands for thirty years and had two chart albums with the Shirehorses, though, to be honest, they weren't very good. He currently plays with The Family Mahone who are, ironically, very good but have had no chart albums. That's showbiz for you.
Mark was once a presenter of Channel 4's The White Room, one of the best music programmes ever on British television, but he got the sack there too leaving the field open for Jools Holland who has capitalised in a big way. However Mark is not bitter and is, in fact, the nicest bloke you could ever meet.