ON Sunday night, 24-year-old Elton Earlington became the seventh male to win the Digicel Rising Stars title. He beat 16-year-old Monifa Goss in a keenly contested finale inside the Courtleigh Auditorium in St Andrew, and brought the curtains down on season 13.

“I am highly overwhelmed by my win. But I won’t be celebrating, because this is just the beginning for me and I can’t celebrate the beginning as if I’ve already made it. I am just going to try and get settled and try to make this more than what it is now. I am happy and grateful to have won. But I need to get out there and become bigger and better. The best is yet to come,” Earlington told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

For him, winning was the crowning moment after auditioning nine times.

“I auditioned nine times for Rising Stars. I was very happy when I made it to the live studio rounds. I just kept trying because I knew that this is something that I always wanted,” he explained.

He spoke about his most memorable moment in the Rising Stars competition.

“My most memorable moment was when (show) producer Sharon Schroeter told me that I was going to perform the song that gave me the most votes during the competition. That song is When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge. I was so shocked but yet happy because I always loved that song,” he said.

Digicel Rising Stars began in 2004. The first winner was Portland native Cavan. Other males who have won the competition include singers Christopher Martin, Romain Virgo, Dalton Harris, T-Rizzy, and musician Verlando Small.

“This has been one of the most intense seasons we’ve had. The contestants were the youngest we’ve ever had but they have amazing talent and I hope to see them all on an international stage in the future,” series producer Schroeter told the Jamaica Observer.

At Sunday’s grand finale, a number of contestants from this season shared the stage. Other performances came from Razor B, Alaine, and Dalton Harris.

— Kevin Jackson