Relative unknown Ebony Day, has been voted the winner of MTV’s Brand New for 2013 award beating much hyped, label backed artists such as Haim, Angel Haze, Tom Odell, Disclosure, and Gabrielle Alpin amongst others.
Since voting opened on the 14th January, artists have been on huge social media campaigns to encourage fans to vote. This year saw a 75% increase in votes compared to 2012. Day took 40% of the votes with Gabrielle Alpin following as the runner up with K Koke, Kodaline and Rascals making up the top five.
Ebony Day acquired a huge online following after posting videos of herself performing when she found herself homebound for months due to illness. The 19 year old, Bournemouth based singer received over 19 million hits on Youtube following in the footsteps of Justin Beiber and last year’s winner of the same prize, Conor Maynard who both achieved fame in a similar fashion.
A delighted Day has commented: "I’m so overwhelmed that my fans have made this win possible for me! It’s all down to their on going support and hard work that I have won MTV’s Brand New for 2013 and I can’t thank them enough. This is a dream come true for me and I’ve never been happier".
Winning the award means that Day will now be backed by MTV for the rest of the year with editorial and promotional across MTV’s UK channels and websites. Her manager Lucy Tallant added: "Creating a campaign to match those from labels and signed artists seemed an impossible challenge, but the changing music industry is evident as the sheer support from Ebony's fans has allowed the unimaginable to become a reality."
Words by Lucy Simmonds
