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THERE’LL be Toyota Star Makers galore at the Concert in the Park tonight from 6.30pm.
Under the new format for Star Maker, Bicentennial Park will host the grand final with the performances of the four grand finalists in front of thousands of people.
The winner will be voted on and announced during the annual Lee Kernaghan fundraising concert.
Lee won the prestigious talent quest in 1982 wearing a memorable white suit and imparted plenty of words of advice to the grand finalists Kaylee Bell, Sarah Head, Nathan Lamont and Christie Lamb.
“I’ll always remember with great clarity sitting in the audience in the dark in the town hall and suddenly the spotlight swung around onto me and my name was called out as the winner,” he said.
“Everyone remembers the white suit – I’ll never live that down. That’s the magic of Tamworth, it gives birth to new music and new artists.”
Lee said the four grand finalists were the cream of the crop.
“They’ve already learned a lot and achieved a lot,” he said.
“Tonight is a life-changing night for one and all four have raised their profiles to great heights in the industry this week in Tamworth. The new format gives Australia a chance to get to know the finalists. It is the number one musical talent quest of its kind in the country and the atmosphere will be electric when the winner is announced.”
He advised the grand finalists to just be themselves because that was what had got them to where they now were.
“Also, love the audience, because they will love you back,” he said.
Nathan said he was getting pumped for his
performance.
“I’m just going to rehearse in my mind the production of my songs and try to talk without ums or ahs,” he said.
Christie said it had been great getting advice from Lee and she was going to just keep practising and working on her patter between songs.
Sarah said she wanted to be mentally and physically prepared. “I want to be confident in my delivery and the way I want my songs to come across so I can go on stage and not worry,” she said.
Kaylee said she was going to take time today to focus on her performance.
The concert that follows Star Maker will feature plenty of Australia’s best-loved country artists including The McClymonts, Men of Country quartet featuring former Star Maker winners Travis Collins, Liam Brew, Luke Austen and Luke Dickens and The Wolfe Brothers to raise money for melanoma.
“Country people spend an enormous amount of time outside working and it’s a real problem,” Lee said.
Lee said he loved the festival because it put the spotlight on Australian country music.
“This is our own brand of music, our own brand of country, and it’s about Australia and it’s something we can all be very proud of,” he said.
“The level of production and talent that is happening in Tamworth right, is comparable to the best in the world.”
The crowd can get involved in Star Maker, by voting for their favourites tonight
via SMS.