Mike walks away with a cool GH¢10,000…for winning Mentor!!!
23 year old Michael Kesse Frimpong, representing the Greater Accra Region as Mike, last Sunday emerged the winner of this season's TV3 hit singing competition, Mentor.
He beat three others in the finale at the National Theatre, having battled vigorously on stage with the microphone and various songs, though he tried getting into the previous season of the competition, as well as the TV3 Gang Starz, but was not selected in both cases.
Performances by all the contestants saw an amazing transformation from “rookies” to confident and stage-rocking musical stars.
Each contestant was privileged to have performed with a good musician, and thus the finals saw the likes of Slim Buster, Tinny, Shasha Marley and Prince Midas, and Tic Tac gracing the occasion.
The contestants each had the chance to perform twice. In the first segment, Mike did a song entitled 'Careless Whisper' originally done by Davekoz.
He was followed by Julie, who did a song, 'Save the best for last,' originally performed by Vanessa William.
Sam also took the stage to do a rendition of 'You are beautiful,' originally done by James Blurnt.
Then Angel kept the fire burning, as she did 'Almost doesn't count', a song originally done by Brandy. It was an outstanding performance endorsed by both judges and fans.
The final four, Mike, Angel, Sam and Julie, have been battling for public affection and approval from the judges for the past 15 weeks.
Mike was very strong throughout the competition and Angel not too far behind him. Sam emerged from the woods to become one of the top contenders, while Julie made it to the top 4, out of mere tokenism on the part of the judges.
The finalists were joined on stage by the evictees from the reality show to do their own song, using Zain.
In the end, the jam-packed auditorium went into a frenzy when Mike was declared the winner. He won GH¢10,000 and a recording deal. Sam came second, and had GH¢6,000, Angel was third and also had GH¢5,000, whilst Julie took the fourth position, and had GH¢4,000. Each of them had souvenirs from the sponsors.