In a departure from the format of previous national selections in the United Kingdom, the process in 2009 has been all about finding the singer to represent the nation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Behind the scenes, selection manager Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and Grammy Award winning songwriter Diane Warren have been busy writing the song which the winning artist will sing in Moscow in May.
Tonights show opened with the three finalists singing a rendition of Bucks Fizz's 1981 contest winner Making Your Mind Up. Following that, each act had to perform three songs tonight. A song they hadn't performed before, a song they had performed in a previous show and the Eurovision Song Contest entry My Time. Andrew Lloyd Webber was once again joined by Lulu and Duncan James from boy band Blue who gave their feedback after the performances. Andrew encouraged the televoting audience not to vote for their local hero, but to vote for who could represent their nation best in Moscow.
After the performances, Lulu sang her hit Relight My Fire along with the contestants eliminated in the first three weeks of the show Damien, Charlotte and Emperors of Soul together with a troupe of dancers. The phone lines were then announced as closed and last years winner Dima Bilan performed his winning song Believe live.
And the winner is....
The waiting was finally over. The results were announced. In third place was Mark. In second place were The Twins which meant the winner was Jade.
Jade Ewen is from East London, and is the eldest of three children. As a child she attended dance school and entered numerous talent competitions. She won a scholarship to the Sylvia Young stage school at the age of 11. During her time there she also had a number of television appearances including The Bill and Casualty. She has been signed to a record label in the past as a part of girl band Trinity Stone but things didn't work out. She is now working with showbusiness manager Jonathan Shalit, who also incidentally worked with Javine, the United Kingdom representative in the 2005 contest in Kyiv.
It remains to be seen whether Jade can reverse the United Kingdoms recent poor form in the 21st century on the 16th of May in Moscow in Europe's favourite TV show.
