LITTLE BAY – It seemed written in stone from the first performance but the decision wasn’t announced until after Ben “Prince Romeo” Durand schooled his competition on how to handle a microphone and a stage at the Montserrat Idol finals on Saturday, March 28, 2015.
Durand made it through more than ten weeks of competition to beat out his sister Nathalia “Butterfly” Durand and Amy Maize for the title of the island’s top singer. Butterfly was challenged with voice problems but stayed the distance to keep the evening entertaining.
Prince Romeo has been singing for some time and is an accomplished keyboardist. In the first round he sang Magic’s “Rude” with flair, riding the grooves and taking the audience along with him. He won the next two rounds as well, although Amy did make it known in round three that the competition wasn’t going to be over until she had her say with a saucy rendition of Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff.”
The judges Kulcha Don, Basil Chambers, Sadie McLaughlin and Michelle Graham along with the audience who voted by paper ballot gave top prize to Prince Romeo, with Amy, then his sister Butterfly in third place.
The winner receives a chance to compete at a regional competition in Guadeloupe along with a hotel stay on Antigua, a smartphone and monthly top-up from Digicel for a year.
Montserrat Idol is organised annually by Tom Walker of Soca Cabana.
