VODAFONE : BIG TOP 40 GIVES BRENTWOOD SINGER HIS BIG BREAK

Brentwood local, Clark King, is celebrating after being named the next Vodafone Future Breakers winner, giving the unsigned hip-hop singer-songwriter a fantastic opportunity to launch his budding music career. The Vodafone Future Breakers initiative, launched as part of the Vodafone Big Top 40 partnership with Global, has given Clark the money-can't-buy chance to record and produce his own song with industry professionals, as well as his live studio session broadcast online with the Big Top 40.

Fashioning his music as a mix of hip-hop, rap and pop, Clark has spent the last two years mainly playing across local Essex and London clubs, most recently taking on a Brit Awards after-party in Mayfair. Clark's flair for music first became apparent in his involvement in a choir as a child, before later becoming a solo singer-songwriter gigging across open mic and college nights.

Taking inspiration from the likes of Chris Brown, Ed Sheeran and Stormzy, the 19-year-old hopes this big break will be the stepping stone to something bigger. Having primarily focused on performing in local clubs, Clark is excited to now be bringing his sound to much bigger audiences via the Vodafone Big Top 40.

On his experience with Vodafone Future Breakers, Clark commented: 'The best thing about winning this competition is that it's given me more confidence in my abilities and the encouragement to keep pushing forward with my dream. Working with industry professionals in the studio has been a privilege and is a huge platform for big things in the pipeline this year, so I can't wait to see what's next!'

Fronted by the Vodafone Big Top 40's very own Marvin Humes, Vodafone Future Breakers is continuing the search for the very best unsigned talent from across the UK to uncover the next big thing in music. Listeners, budding artists, DJs and band members can still get involved and enter their tracks or videos through the dedicated hub where they could win a recording studio session with a top industry producer!

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Notes to editors:

About The Big Top 40:

The Vodafone Big Top 40 is the UK's number 1 chart show with 2.4 million listeners every week. It is presented by Marvin Humes and Kat Shoob, and produced by Global, the media & entertainment group. The chart is the UK's first real time chart show with the top 10 taken live from iTunes during the show. Listeners across the UK can tune in on Sundays from 4pm across 130 radio stations, online at bigtop40.com and through the Big Top 40 app. Source: RAJAR / Ipsos-MORI / RSMB, period ending December 18 2016.

• Find out more about Vodafone Future Breakers and the Vodafone Big Top 40 here:

http://promo.bigtop40.com/breakers/home/

• Hi res images and logos available on request.
• Follow up interview with Clark available on request.
• Clark King's Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-980773391/clark-king-only-one

About Vodafone UK

Vodafone is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 49 more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 30 September 2016, Vodafone had 470 million mobile customers and 14 million fixed broadband customers. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com.

Vodafone UK partners with businesses of all sizes - from start-ups and small businesses to the largest corporates and the public sector. The company has worked with UK businesses for over 30 years, starting out as a mobile provider and becoming one of the UK's leading total communications partners. It provides a range of voice and data services, secure communications infrastructure, fixed and call centre capability, unified communications and was the first mobile phone operator to offer a truly converged service for fixed and mobile.

Vodafone is currently spending around £1 billion on its network and services across the UK following a similar amount spent last year. This includes £200 million on its network in London, the introduction of its 4G service to more than 922 cities and towns, as well as thousands of smaller communities whilst also making network improvements across its UK 3G network. Meanwhile, The Vodafone Rural Open Sure Signal programme is also aiming to bring 3G coverage for the first time to 100 remote communities across the UK.

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