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Verlando crowned Digicel Rising Stars winner

In the end, it was a saxophonist, Verlando Small, who was crowned winner of Digicel Rising Stars in its 10th year.

Digicel Rising Stars 2013 winner, Verlando Small (left), accepts his cheque from Digicel's Chief Executive Officer Barry O'Brien

Following the announcement last night, Small, who was crowned the winner over singer Kadian Thompson, was quite happy with his win.

"I expected it, but it was nerve racking standing up here and hearing that song play and everything just start playing back in my mind from the start to the bad comments to the good comments. It was filled with mixed feelings, but when I heard my name, everything just flew through the window and that was it for me," he said.

As winner of the competition, he walked away with $1 million in cash, a Huawei device and call credit from Digicel. As the runner-up, Thompson got $600,000.

Earlier in the two-hour show, there were performances from past winners including Christopher Martin, Romain Virgo, One Third, Cavan, Shuga, Dalton Harris, Sherona Jonas and Tash. There were also other guests performers such as TOK, Assassin and Alaine.

But after waiting for well over an hour and a half, the audience finally saw the top two contestants. Kadian did Rihanna's Don't Stop The Music and Small followed on saxophone with Cheerleader and I'm Coming.

The most exciting part of the night, however, came as the winner was about to be announced.

"The winner of season 10 of Digicel Rising Stars is.... the sax man Verlando Small," host Terri-Karelle Reid shouted and the audience applauded while confetti filled the room.

Immediately, a woman ran on to the stage and hugged Small. When order was restored to the room, Small cried and was consoled by the host of the show.

He eventually closed the show with a medley of hits that entertained the audience.

Source: Jamaica Star

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