Nursing Student Woos Crowds in NYP Jam! Grand Finals

An unexpected victory for one singer, who beat a hot favorite to clinch top prize. A band member who rushed from the airport to made it in the nick of time for his performance. These are just some of the highlights of the NYP Jam! Grand Finals held on 7 January 2011.

Diploma in Nursing student Khairul Azree joined NYP Jam! as a part of a duo with a good friend. However, the judges who were more impressed with Khairul’s voice, asked him to audition as a solo singer instead. He eventually made into the finals.

That evening, Khairul serenaded the crowds as well as the judges with his own acoustic rendition of ‘Grenade’ by Bruno Mars. He won first prize. Hot on his heels was a crowd favorite Andrew Kim, a School of Business Management exchange student from Seoul Korea. Andrew had to content with the second place while Yellow Black Haze band came in third.

“This is truly unexpected as Andrew was a crowd favourite. I thank the judges and my friends who came out to support me,” said Khairul.

The 4 Avenues band, which competed in the Secondary School Students’ category, have every reason to cheer. One of their guitarists had cut short his holiday in Canada to perform at the finals. He only landed at Changi Airport at 7pm and made it at the nick of time just as the band was about to start their performance. His return lifted their spirits and the band went on to win the first prize.

“We are very happy that he made it just in time and performed with us. We are also thankful to NYP who made changes to the line-up and allowed us to sing last,” said lead singer Natalie Wong of Whitley Secondary School.

Chyee Gin from Orchid Park Secondary Schoo,l who performed his own song composition, came in second while Jurong West Secondary School student Siti Nurindah Musali took third place.

This year’s NYP Jam! and NYPTV on Air LIVE show – both signature events at NYP Night Open house were bigger and better with special the performances by local celebrities Jack & Rai, Tay Kewei and Malaysian recording artiste Farah Asyikin.