A singer/song writer, who was born in Jamaica and raised in Northern Ireland, has been crowned the winner of Merseyrail’s Sound Station competition.




Kingfast went head to head with nine other aspiring artists in a battle of the bands style showdown on the concourse level of Liverpool Central station, last Saturday, 11th November.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and brought up in Belfast, where his name stems from, the singer now lives in Merseyside where he is making his ascent up the ranks in the Liverpool music scene.

The artist describes his style of music as a mix of soulful melodies and vocals with contemporary folk/pop guitar.

He released his first EP, ‘Dreamworld’, earlier this year, which was recorded in Liverpool’s Elevator Studios.

Kingfast will now receive a year of professional music industry mentoring, studio recording time and 12 months free travel on Merseyrail.

Now in its fifth year, Sound Station is the only festival of its kind, which sees a busy commuter railway station transformed into a free concert hall and bursting with exciting new talent.

The final, the culmination of a year-long competition, saw up and coming acts from across the region share their original music on the project’s social media pages and perform at stations throughout Merseyside.

The panel on the night represented the cream of Merseyside’s music industry, including representatives of Bido Lito! magazine, Sound City/Modern Sky, Pirate Studios, Sentric Music Publishing, as well as last year’s winner Dan Astles.

Speaking about his sensational win, Kingfast said: ‘I’m still buzzing from the day. It was amazing to make the final and I didn’t really expect to win.

‘The standard was so high this year and I genuinely enjoyed every single performance. I’m mostly looking forward to the mentoring and getting some help and direction with my music.’

Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Merseyrail’s managing director, said: ‘As it’s Sound Station’s fifth anniversary, the final generated the most interest we’ve ever seen in the competition, and we were blown away by the scale of the talent. Moving the event from its traditional home, Moorfields station, to Liverpool Central meant more passengers could stop and watch the acts, and the atmosphere on Saturday afternoon at Central was amazing.’

Sound Station festival has served as a launchpad for many local musicians, including last year’s winner, Dan Astles, from Southport.

Since being crowned winner, Astles has gone on to play at some of the region’s top festivals, released his debut EP and is set to play a huge show at District in the Baltic Triangle to launch his second release this month.

Also performing at the Merseyrail Sound Station Festival were Limerance, Joseph Mott, Tabitha Jade, Black Pulp, Luna, Molly Hughes, Nicola Hardman, Jack McAllister, and Andy Short.