Chris Grayston (born 1971) is an English

music promoter A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...

, event organizer, record producer, musician, label owner and

talent scout In professional sports, scouts are experienced talent evaluators who travel extensively for the purposes of watching athletes play their chosen sports, and they determine whether their set of skills and talents represent what is needed by the s ...

. He is currently employed as a music consultant including working for acts and record labels.

Biography

Live and Unsigned and Open Mic UK

In 2007 Grayston organised and co-founded Live and Unsigned, an annual

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...

for unsigned acts in the United Kingdom. He has served as events director and head judge for the competition. The competition annually attracts 10,000 participants, and after a series of live judging panels, ends with a summer National Grand Final at the Indig02 as part of Live Fest. Through the competition Grayston has discovered a number of acts, including 2007 winners B-Kay and Kazz, who later achieved a top 30 hit in the UK charts with the single ''You Know it's Right''. Grayston discovered participant Josh Dubovie in 2008, who went on to represent the United Kingdom at the 2010

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. In 2008 he also discovered Welsh indie/ electronic band Kiddo360, which won the Grand Final and later went on to win a

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

Award.

Nathan Sykes Nathan James Sykes (born 18 April 1993) is an English singer, best known as a member of the boy band The Wanted. In 2013, Sykes appeared with his bandmates in the E! channel reality television series '' The Wanted Life''. After the band's hia ...

performed in 2008, before he joined

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band formed in 2009, and originally consisted of members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker, and Nathan Sykes. The group signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Reco ...

. In the same year, Grayston was involved in setting up the first Open Mic UK, as a spin off of Live and Unsigned. In 2010, the competition winners were The Lottery Winners and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

band The Detours. Future Music was incorporated in 2013. The original Live and Unsigned company was dissolved in 2014. In 2015, Future Production was incorporated. The company runs Open Mic UK.

Book and companies

In 2016, Grayston directed company Future Music was dissolved, and TeenStar incorporated. The same year Grayston published a book called ''The Secret to Success in the Music Industry''.

Controversies

Following Luke Friend's appearance on 2013's X Factor and subsequent top 40 hit, Future Music threatened to sue Friend for alleged breach of contract. Future Music argued that "the winner must give

TeenStar TeenStar is a singing competition in the United Kingdom, it is run by Future Music. The competition is open for singers, vocalists and solo artists to enter either in their teenage or pre teen years. Participants compete in regional auditions t ...

, run by Future Music, first refusal on management services within 18 months of winning"'','' in addition to "appearances and promotion for an 18 month period from the end of the competition for a minimum of 5 times." Luke Friend's management company, Crown Management, have stated that "Our client was saddened to have received this claim from Future Music with whom he worked amicably for some time, including during his time in X-Factor. The claim has absolutely no basis in fact and will be robustly defended. We have every expectation that our client will be vindicated in due course."

Personal life

Grayston has three children, and in 2016 lived in Shirley.

Discography

Albums

*2001: ''Inverse Catch-22'' by Cynical Blend – producer, keyboards

Singles

*1994: "Midas Volume 1" by Midas *1995: "QSH006" "Give Yourself to Me by Midas" (Quosh Records) *1995: "FUS001" by Midas (Fusion Records) *1995: "RAR010" by Midas Imperial March (Slammin Vinyl records) *1995: "Midas and Dougal" by Midas (Hectic Records) *1995: "HVR006 You Take Me Away" by Midas (Happy Vibes Recordings) *1996: "FUS004" by Midas (Fusion Records) *1996: "FUS008" by Midas (Fusion Records) *1996: "MDMA002 Midas Volume 2" by Midas *1996: "Midas and Sunset Regime" by Midas (Hectic Records) *1997: "HR001 Doesn't Have to Be" by Ikon (Hectic Rewinds Records)

Compilation appearances

*1995: "Groove Control" (DJ Clarke'e Remix) on ''Just 4 U Vol. 2'' *1995: "The Flow" on ''Hardcore'' *2007: "Give Yourself to Me" on '' Best of Bonkers''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grayston, Chris Living people British dance musicians English record producers Happy hardcore musicians English electronic musicians English techno musicians Music promoters English music managers 1971 births British hardcore techno musicians