The Voice of the castle

A ONE-TIME winner of ITV’s The Voice Kids found a new venue to showcase his singing – performing at Castle Cornet during last week’s KPMG Castle Nights.

The crowd at last week’s KPMG Castle Nights were entertained by a couple of young performers with strong musical pedigrees. Sam Wilkinson was the winner of ITV’s The Voice Kids 2019 while his girlfriend, Bee Bran, is the daughter of Tim, who was in the band Dreadzone, which had hit singles, and has worked recently behind the scenes with Natalie Imbruglia and Imelda May, having worked previously with Sir Paul McCartney. (Picture by Chris George Photography)

Sam Wilkinson, 15, won the TV show two years ago after he wowed judges with some of his own compositions and The Beatles’ Hey Jude in the final.

His performance at Castle Nights was alongside girlfriend Bee Bran, also 15, who was in the island with her famous local musician father Tim.

‘It’s a very unique venue,’ Sam said.

‘The atmosphere was fantastic, the other band playing at the event was great, and thanks to those that organised everything.’

Bee added: ‘The performance went really well, and the venue was amazing.’

Sam Wilkinson winner of ITV's The Voice Kids 2019 with his girlfriend Bee Bran performing at KPMG's Castle Nights. (Picture by Chris George Photography)

The young duo said they would be keen to play in Guernsey again. They have also performed during the Guernsey Street Festival during their holiday.

They made contact with Russ Fossey, head of arts development at the Guernsey Arts Commission, who arranged the appearance at Castle Cornet.

‘We were delighted to have the opportunity for them to perform at the castle,’ Mr Fossey said. ‘They came in really quietly, with no promotion, but it went down really well with the crowd.’

Since winning ITV’s The Voice Kids, Sam said he has been playing gigs, writing songs, been active on YouTube, and even performed at the Royal Albert Hall.

Bee finished in second place winner in the UK National Song Writing Competition in 2018. In February she released an EP called Artificial Ecstasy.