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FINALIST JUDGES
| Top 5 | Top 5 | Top 10 | Top 20 | 
Nigel Elderton
Music Publisher
European Vice-President
Peer Music Publishing
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Nigel Beaham-Powell
Deputy-Chariman
Performing Rights Society
Biog
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Paul Gray
Regional Officer
Musician's Union
Bassist/Songwriter
The Damned
Biog
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Simon Drake
Producer/Owner
Independent Record Label Naim
Biog
| PROFESSIONAL SONGWRITING PANEL Below are the names of our Professional Songwriting Panel who shall provide comments and advice for the winner of Unsigned Song Contest 2008.
The Unsigned Song Contest Judge Panel is unique to any other song or songwriting competition. It is not only made up of music industry representatives but practicing musicians and songwriters as well as enthusiastic music comsumers. Below are profiles of the judges on our panel and a brief biography on each.
Nigel Elderton
| Music Publisher / European Vice President at Peer Music | | Nigel Elderton began his career in the music industry in 1975, joining Chappell Music from college where he studied Economics and Law. | | He moved to EMI Music Publishing in 1977 where for the next 12 years, he held a variety of positions including Radio Promotions Manager; Professional Manager and Director of New Business Development, responsible for TV and film synchronisation. | | In 1989 Nigel was hired by MCA Music to head up their synch licensing division and the following year he accepted a similar position at Polygram Music Publishing with additional A& R responsibilities under the then MD, Lucien Grainge. | | He remained with Polygram until November 1991 when he was appointed to the position of Managing Director of peermusic UK - the world's largest independently owned publishing company - where he remains today. | | In 1999 Nigel was promoted to the position of European Vice President with the role of overseeing and co-ordinating the activities of peermusic's European Creative Managers. | | Nigel remains an active member of many of the music industry bodies including: | - PRS Deputy Chairman (Publishing)
- Director of the MPA Board
- Chairman, Pop Publishers Committee
- MCPS Commercial Committee
- Trustee of the PRS Foundation
| | Nigel Elderton biograhy courtesy of www.prsfoundation.co.uk | Back to Top
| Nigel Beaham-Powell
| Deputy-Chairman of Performing Rights Society | | As a media composer, Nigel Beaham-Powell has been writing music with Bella Russell since 1984. TV Composition includes over 80 scores for BBC and ITV dramas, and over 250 documentaries which have been broadcast worldwide. Recent work includes The Miracle on Stairwell B for Channel 4 and Jungles, a three-part series for BBC2. To-date Nigel has written over 400 scores for television and film. | | Recent award winning work includes Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Soundtracks include BT, First Direct and VW, and also 6 library albums for Carlin Production Music. | | In 2006, Nigel was re-elected as Deputy Chairman of PRS for a further 2 years. Occasionally, Nigel writes for Sound On Sound Magazine. | Nigel Beaham-Powell biography courtesy of www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk.
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Paul Gray
| Regional Officer for Musician's Union / Former Bassist & Songwriter of The Damned and UFO | | Paul Gray was the bassist for the punk rock band The Damned. He was recruited from Eddie and The Hot Rods in early 1980 to replace Algy Ward on bass. Gray contributed to two albums, The Black Album and Strawberries, but abruptly left the band in February 1983 due to discontent and the desire to do something "different". After The Damned he joined UFO and remained until their split in 1987. He also played with Johnny Thunders in the 1980s. | Gray is now heavily involved with Community Music Wales, a charity aimed at nurturing and helping young bands and is based in Cardiff. He occasionally guests with The Damned on stage when they appear in the Welsh city. He also acts as Regional Officer for Musician's Union in the South West and Wales. | Paul Gray biography courtesy of www.wikipedia.org. | Back to Top
| Simon Drake
| Producer / Owner Independent Record Label The Naim Label
| | Simon Drake set up his own Independent Record Label called The Naim Label. Specialising in Jazz, Alternative Jazz and Classical Music. At age 22, Simon has his finger on the pulse when it comes to new music and is always on the look out for new acts and songwriters to produce. | | Simon is one of the few to attain a degree in Commercial Music with a specialism in Production. He has had experience as a session and touring musician and vocalist. He also has had experience as an artist himself and, in 2005, set up another business venture making educational music. | | Simon Drake biography courtesy of www.thenaimlabel.co.uk and www.simon-drakeonline.co.uk. | Back to Top
| Davey Ray Moore 
| Producer / Songwriter | | Moor was born in Beirut and raised in Australia, and now lives in England. He first came to musical prominence in Sydney as keyboard player, and occasional vocalist, for and independent rock outfit The Crystal Set and psychedelic band The Church. After recording four singles and one album (which featured the Moor penned "Flat Earth"), Moor left Australia for the United Kingdom where he began working at The Beatmasters' studio as a composer. | | Moor later established a recording studio near Glastonbury where, for the next decade, he composed soundtracks for television, film and documentaries. in 1998, with partners Robin Brown and Zennor Alexander, Moor contributed the soundtrack to the BAFTA-winning Best Documentary for a Channel 4 "Dispatches" film. Other prizes included Best Short for an MTV ident at the New York Film Festival in 1993. | | Clients across this period include Pepsi, Budweiser, Bacardi, Nintendo, Nissan, Remington, the BBC, Channel 4, ITV, MTV, VH-1 and Sky. All the while Moor continued to dabble in original music, eventually writing all the songs that were to become the launchpad for Cousteau. | | Toward the end of the nineties, Moor recruited Cousteau and the band recorded a collection of his songs. In 2001, Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures released the recordings as a self-titled album. With baritone Liam McKahey singing all but two of the songs (Moor leads the vocals on the others), Cousteau's lounge-set sound was presented with the perfect raft upon which Moor's romantic sound could float. The band received both enthusiastic reviews (Single of the Week, The Times, Album of The Week, The Guardian, 5-stars, Uncut) and sales throughout the United Kingdom and Europe and met with substantial success in the United States. | | Capturing the allure of its predecessor, a second album Sirena replicated its success yet Moor departed the band prior to their third American tour. Instead he chose to work as a producer on Italian singer Cristina Donà's album, which achieved critical acclaim and went to No. 4 on the Italian Charts. | | In 2004, with the assistance of vocalists Sergio Cocchi, Darion Marshall, Christina Dona and Debbie Sanders, Moor released his first true solo endeavour "Telepathy" on NuN/Edel in Europe. 4 and 5 star reviews across publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine and All Music followed, and Telepathy was included in Musica's Critics Top 100 in 2004 - one of two albums that Moor wrote and produced - the other being Cristina Donà's debut album in English. | | In 2005 Telepathy was released by Lakeshore Records throughout the US. Critical reaction was again enthusiastic, some describing the album as the best work of his career. | | Davey Ray Moore biography courtesy of www.wikipedia.org. | Back to Top
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Stephen Kempner
| Music and Entertainment Lawyer
| | A Music Lawyer at leading music and entertainment firm Sheridans, Stephen advises on a range of matters within the music and entertainment industries. Stephen represents a broad range of clients from established artists, songwriters, producers and talent through to new and unsigned acts. Represents everyone from Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Jimmy Page and Pink Floyd through to pop, "indie" and unsigned bands. | | Stephen has actively assisted a number of artists in obtaining deals with record, publishing and production companies and offers to artists and their managers a practical as well as a legal service in respect of the most appropriate means to achieve success. | Stephen Kempner biography courtesy of www.sheridans.co.uk and www.myspace.com/stephenkempner | Back to Top
| Paul Rutter | Songwriter / Senior Lecturer in Popular Music and Record Production at Southampton Solent University | 
| Paul is Course Leader for Popular Music and Record Production and a Senior Lecturer at Southampton Solent University. | | In the mid eighties, music became his full time occupation and Paul established his own music production company Mastersong Music. His first solo single release enjoyed airplay on Radio 2 and knocked Stevie Wonder off the number one position in the local chart! | After writing and producing over 100 songs, having signed many music publishing assignments with companies such as Novello, Sleeping Giant, Sparta Florida, Filmtrax, EMI and many subsequent production recording agreements, Paul wrote for international artist Paul Young in the early nineties. 'Heaven can Wait' was released a single worldwide and featured Pino Palladino - Bass, Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd on Guitar and soul diva Chaka Khan on vocals. Paul ventured into the alt-country pop scene in the late nineties, enjoying some success in Ireland with another album release 'Anything It Takes'.
In 2000 Paul moved towards further education, bringing with him a wide and varied experience in the music industry through studio production, songwriting, music industry, performance and music technology. | |
Biography courrtesy of www.solent.ac.uk
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| Andy West 
| Nashville Songwriter &
Creator of MA Songwriting at Bath Spa University | Andy has been writing professionally since the 80's. He started his career by honing his craft alongside Roger Cook, a well-established songwriter who was the first (and still only) songwriter to be entered into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
| To date, Andy West has over 300 self written and co-written songs published worldwide. He has worked alongside such musicians and artists as Alison Krauss and Vince Gill, ex-Richard Thomson sideman Clive Gregson and ex-Bob Dylan drummer Ian Wallace.
| In the 90's Andy worked for Warner Brothers as a songwriter.
Andy taught and was a guest speaker at the UK Songwriting Festival in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Presently, he teaches songwriting at Bath Spa University. He recently created a Masters Degree in Songwriting, scheduled for October 2007, it will be the first academic course of its kind in the world.
| Biography courtesy of wikipedia.org
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