R&M, the funky and sexy trio of Denice, Stephanie and Natasha emerged winners of the maiden edition of Vodafone’s Icons on Sunday, when they accumulated the most public votes to beat Kolors and Keshi 3 to second and third positions respectively. Throughout the suspenseful 13 weeks of intense competition, R&M remained a frontrunner despite a shaky first week of performance. As winners of ‘Icons: Diva’s Edition’, the girls nabbed GHC 20,000 each, a one year recording contract , a Nissan Pajero, return tickets to London, the chance to perform with seasoned artistes at Vodafone’s 020 Live and Samsung Galaxy Tabs apiece.
Throughout the various stages of the grand finale, R&M shone as favorites for the ultimate prize with scintillating performances and energetic, rigorous dance moves. The trio passionately sealed their win with a flawless finale performance of their first single ‘Let your hair down.’ They emerged as winners of the competition following an electrifying musical duel with second-runner up, Kolors.
During the awards presentation, Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone Ghana, Uche Ofodile remarked that, ‘Vodafone has delivered its promise to empower the best of talented Ghanaian girls to attain their musical dreams. What has happened here today is historic and extremely exciting; we have discovered Ghana’s first super girl group. Indeed, we have delivered our brand promise of ‘Power to you.’ With the level of support we have given these girls so far and that we will continue to give them, the world can expect nothing but excellence and great value from R&M- this is synonymous with the Vodafone brand.’
Prior to the final event, the winners R&M had on several occasions thrilled both judges and viewers of the Reality TV series with their remarkable voices and unbeatable stage craft.
The night of great talents opened with a heart-warming performance of ‘That’s what friends are for’ by the finalists, increasing in momentum through dynamic performances by sultry judges Gena West and Stephanie Benson. A passionate Icons fan base were treated to a night of spectacular singing, dancing and overall delight as Ghana’s best rapper, Trigmatic, and Ghana’s current music sensation 5five took turns to entertain the crowd with hit songs from their recent albums.
Each finalist re-enacted three of their best performances on the screen. One after the other, they took turns to exhibit unbeatable singing skills, marvelous performances and a spark of determination to win. Keshi 3 was eliminated leaving winners R&M to battle with Kolors for the first position by each performing their self-composed songs.
Following their victory, R&M will perform alongside other artistes at this year’s edition of ‘020 live’, Vodafone’s annual spectacular music show. They will also record their first album via their contract with Sony entertainment.
Before the grand finale at the Accra International Conference Center, the organizers had earlier short listed and presented to the general public, 24 finalists; they were merged into 8 groups of 3. The groups participated in live shows and were eliminated weekly until 3 finalists earned the spot to contest in the finals. ICONS: Divas Edition was an initiative of Vodafone Ghana in partnership with Storm 360.
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