SUCCESS in a Stroud talent contest has helped catapult 17-year-old Nathan Sykes to fame and a place at the top of the UK charts.
Back in 2007, Nathan won the Door Youth Project’s Undiscovered Youth Talent Contest at the Sub Rooms, Stroud with a performance of Mack The Knife.
Little did he know that just three years later he would reach number one with boyband The Wanted.
Their song All Time Low topped the charts on Sunday, August 1.
The Door talent contest is proving a great stepping stone for young artists.
Nathan’s successor in the competition, Mary-Jess Leaverland, went on to win the Chinese version of the X Factor and also gained a deal with a record label.
Brendan Conboy, project co-ordinator and competition organiser, said: "Nathan is amazingly talented. He is very unassuming but a hard worker which is what has got him to where he is today."
Nathan, from Abbeydale, Gloucester, who performed at Oakridge Village Fete when he was 13, and the other lads have toured with The Saturdays and appeared at the Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium alongside Rihanna, JLS and Justin Beiber.
* Auditions take place in the autumn the next Undiscovered Youth Talent Contest on January 29. Businesses are encouraged to help with sponsorship. Go to www.thedooryouthproject.org.uk
