WELL-KNOWN Bere Alston tenor, Tyrone Piper, has won through to the regional final of the biggest music competition in the UK for singers and solo artists.

The auditions for Open Mic UK were held in Plymouth at the end of August, with each contestant being allowed two minutes to convince judges of their talent. Tyrone performed the Roy Orbison song 'Walk On', which had to be sung a capella, which the singer said he had enjoyed doing.

Tyrone, a 'cross-over' artist singing songs from opera to pop, is brushing up his guitar skills at present and may accompany himself at the regional final, which will be at the Guildhall in Plymouth on October at 7.30pm.

The winners will be decided by a combination of audience vote and a panel of judges. As well as the over 25 section in the evening, there will be under 18 and 18-25 competitions in the afternoon.

Tyrone said that, when compared with some well know televised shows, Open Mic UK seemed to be a 'genuine talent competition, not a freak show!'

'Walk on' is one of the tracks from Tyrone's album 'Amato'. Another of the tracks, 'Chasing Cars', has been featuring highly in the Austrian and German iTunes Opera Music charts, reaching number 46 in the German and an amazing number 11 in the Austrian chart.

'I couldn't understand why I suddenly had quite a bit of royalties coming through, and then discovered how well the track was doing,' Tyrone said, adding that he was 'quite chuffed'.

Tyrone recently sang at a sell-out concert in Liskeard and also at the Last Night of the Proms in Tavistock, but a bigger booking on November 20 is a 20 to 30 minute performance slot at the official turning on of the lights in Torquay.

'I have been told there will be 2-3000 people there!' he said.

He is being interviewed for Palm Radio and Plymouth Radio in connection with this and the Open Mic contest.

He also guested on a CD by the Tamar Valley Male Voice Choir which is due for release soon.

Tickets for the regional final are £7.50 and are available from Tyrone, who can be contacted via his website at http://www.tyronepiper.com">www.tyronepiper.com

Ticket holders will be able to vote for their first and second place contestants.

The area final will be in November and the final will be at O2 arena in London in January.