23rd February 2013: food, thank you cards and singer/songwriters.

So today, I got up rather late, played pokemon, listened to music, went out for lunch, and then came home and made thank you cards for people that have given donations towards my Kenya Trip, and listened to a lot of music, choosing 5 people to look at for my blog today... It was hard, as I wanted to try and focus on people that not many people had heard of, however I obviously feel I should cover people I will have told you about, because I've followed them from their YouTube days to getting their EP in the singer/songwriters TOP 10 in the Album chart... I'm not going to be able to tell you what genre they come under, because I'm useless at that.

So, here goes:

1. Lauren Aquilina... mainly because I've followed her music from her first videos on YouTube, to her getting her EP, Fools, in the Top 10 singer/songwriter's Album Chart. I've also, been to Nando's with her and went to her first headline gig in London, last Tuesday. You've heard of her a lot from me, but there is a reason, she's an insane singer, and her music is great too. She's done a lot of original songs as well as covers, and they've all been pretty good. A lot of people have recognised her music too in the big music industry,  and JLS watched one of her UStreams...
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LaurenAquilinaMusic
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/fools-ep/id558518089




2. Frank Hamilton... ok, so I've got tickets for him in April, and I'm
definitely looking forward to it! Last year, he set a challenge to do a song a week, including lots of collaborations, with lots of people, including Lauren Aquilina, Dion Dublin (yes, the ex-footballer), Ed Sheeran and Newton Faulkner. Ed Sheeran backed him from the start and he's picked up a lot of followers for this years challenge of one blog a week, which includes videos, offers and songs too.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/frankhamiltonband/videos?view=0
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/frank-hamilton/id392084
OneBlogAWeek: http://oneblogaweek.wordpress.com/about/





3. Billy Lockett... he's from Northampton and I literally fell in love with him on Tuesday night, I got his EP and haven't stopped listening to it since. He's sung with Nina Nesbitt (who supported Ed Sheeran on tour). He's also done covers on YouTube with Josh Kumra and Caggie Dunlop. They're also very catchy songs, so I've had them in my head for a while too.
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/officialbillylockett/videos?view=0
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/billy-lockett/id370633267



4. Saint Raymond (Callum Burrows) this is the other guy that was insane on Tuesday night, I got a signed demo by him to of a song called 'Bonfires' and it's awesome! He's also done a few other songs which are great that I'm sure you'll find on YouTube... He's from Nottingham and he's done small sets at events there. He's lovely and his music is great too, he reminded me a little bit of Ed Sheeran singing with A-Punk/Kaiser Chiefs acoustic music?!
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/itscallumburrows
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaintRaymondMusic





5. Josh Record... I heard about Josh through Sam Pepper on his LA Dream video, his song 'For Your Love' is 'lovely' as I described it to my friend... His EP, Bones is definitely one to chill to, he's from London, and I wish he was gigging around my area, because I'd be there...
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/MrJayrecord
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/bones-ep/id598984687



Others I would have loved to have included, but ran out of time and decided most of them you have probably heard of...:

-Bastille: http://www.youtube.com/user/BASTILLEvideos
-Ben Howard (although after the Brits...) http://www.youtube.com/user/benhowardmusic/video
-Charlie Simpson (yes, the one from Busted): http://www.youtube.com/user/charliesimpsonmusic
-Daley: http://www.youtube.com/user/DaleyUK
-Emily and the Woods: http://www.youtube.com/user/emilyandthewoods
-Everything Everything: http://www.youtube.com/user/EvrythingEvrything
-Gabrielle Aplin: http://www.youtube.com/user/Gaberrz
-Imagine Dragons: http://www.youtube.com/user/ImagineDragonsVEVO
-Jake West: http://www.youtube.com/user/jakewestmusic
-Katie Sky: http://www.youtube.com/user/katieskymusic
-Kodaline: http://www.youtube.com/user/KodalineVEVO
-Paper Lions: http://www.youtube.com/user/paperlions
-Skylarks: http://www.youtube.com/user/SkylarksMusic/videos
-Sons & Lovers: http://www.youtube.com/user/sonsandloversband
-Walk The Moon: http://www.youtube.com/user/WalkTheMoonVEVO

so there you go!! I'm sorry about ending up putting loads of links, but I think they're all great artists/bands, many of them are getting bigger now, but it's been crazy to watch some of them grow from YouTube and support acts for slightly smaller people to being bigger and better known people and bands.

Enjoy listening to them!
Off to do some English and annotate some poems now :/

evan. :)