Maillot in peak finals
Former Oceansider, Alexandria Maillot, is competing for part of a $275,000 cash purse in The Peak Performance Project designed to nurture B.C. musical talent. Submitted photo
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From more than 450 submissions, teen singer Alexandria Maillot is among 20 artists selected for the Peak Performance Project, run by Music BC and 100.5 The Peak to develop emerging B.C. artists.
A former Oceanside resident and Ballenas Secondary student, now living in Courtenay, Maillot recently returned from a one week boot camp in Princeton. While there she, along with the other finalists, faced a rigorous training program overseen by top music industry professionals like singer Barney Bentall and CBC music guru and radio personality Grant Lawrence.
“I went in so unprepared and had to change my set list five times before I did my final performance for faculty,” said Maillot who then added, in the end, everything turned out okay.
“I pulled it together and it was one of the best performances I’ve ever experienced,” she said.
Voting online (info at www.peakperformanceproject.com) is part of the process that selects eventual winners with the top three contestants sharing $275,000 in development funding. All 20 performers will be part of The Peak Performance Concert Series that began Oct. 15 and runs for several weekends in a row at The Cellar nightclub in Vancouver. Five of those will be chosen to record music for national radio distribution before a final performance in March, 2010 decides the top three winners who will share the lucrative cash purse.
Maillot, 16, said her age means she, alone among the contestants, is unable to attend The Cellar outside of her performance to check out the other acts and admits the competition will be stiff.
“I won’t lie, I’m not too confident of being in the top three ... but I’ve already learned a lot of what I need to start doing to ready myself for the music revolution that’s happening already. You have to find a different way to make yourself stand out and have a really good online presence.
“Winning would help a lot,” she continued, “I haven’t had money to make a CD and it would help me out immensely to start promoting myself and doing more shows.”
With her accomplishments to date one could accuse the young talent of false modesty. Maillot is featured on an Oprah Winfrey website that promotes young talent and has performed in Toronto with Jann Arden. In addition she co-wrote Revolution, a song on an album by Swiss recording artist Stefanie Heinzmann that went gold in Germany and Switzerland and Maillot has won numerous talent contests including Victoria Idol in 2006.
She describes her music as contemporary pop with favorite artists that include Feist and Stevie Wonder.
In future she said she’ll concentrate on writing more songs noting the Peak Performance Project, win or lose, has already proved invaluable.
“I’ve met a lot of people who have the access in the industry to help me out down the road,” said Maillot.
reporter@pqbnews.com
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