Over 500 friends, family and fans packed the Mick Shannon Suite of the St Mary's Stadium for the final of Urban Flava, hosted by DJ Spooney of Radio 1's Dreem Teem.

The seven finalists who had won through heats and the semi-final stages performed their chosen track in full for the live audience and a panel of judges made up of key figures in the music industry.

Click through the Urban Flava Photo Gallery Backstage - The Urban Flava Crowd - The Artists on stage.

Catherine Gordon, Maxine Khan, Michael Brown, Rob Stapleton, MC Smokey, Wayne Mayers and Sarah Blake had all qualified from the semi-final stage.

The performers had each gone through a series of training workshops and mentoring sessions in the build up to the final.

Video of all the Urban Flava 2003 Finalists Catherine Gordon, Maxine Khan, Michael Brown, Rob Stapleton, Smokey, Wayne Mayers, Sarah Blake.

Billy Grant and Gregg Kofi Brown

Producer Tony Briscoe, who has worked with Craig David and Beverley Knight, was joined on the judging panel by Sony talent spotter, George Bascombe Roberts, Billy Grant from 2 Point Nine Productions and top producer Gregg Kofi Brown.


They admitted that chosing a winner was an incredibly difficult decision - made during 30 agonising minutes of deliberations after the acts had all performed. Eventually, after a nail-biting wait, singer Wayne Mayers was declaired the winner, the range of his vocals impressing the judges.

Gregg Kofi Brown told BBCi: "It's what I call artistry. Everyone gave a good performanceand there was great entertainment value. But I wasn't expecting to see an artist of Wayne's callibre - I was a bit taken aback, but even then, it wasn't an easy decision."

Gregg Kofi Brown and Billy Grant talk to BBC Southampton's Stephen Stafford.

Hundreds of music fans turned up at St Mary's Stadium

21-year-old Wayne, who is originally from London, is currently studying fashion at Southampton Institute. He is as laid back as the soulful tunes he pens, and after being announced as the winner, he thanked his backing singer, Hsiao Lan Liu and the audience for the vibes of support.


As well as getting the chance to showcase their talents in front of some of the music industry's most influential figures, there was a cash prize and Wayne will also get to cut a track at Southampton Institute's recording studios.

DJ Spooney on Urban Flava 2003.

The final was the culmination of a competition run by BBC Roots, in association with Southampton Institute and the African Carribean Centre which had seen over 60 original entries whittled down to just seven.

The early bunch of hopefuls had each performed for the Urban Flava Crew during the heats at the African Carribean Centre. With a variety of cover-versions, they all had around two minutes to impress the judges before getting feedback on their performances.

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The winning track will also get airplay on the BBC's digital radio stations, 1Xtra and Asian Network.

Find out more about BBC Roots.

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