VIDEO: Strut your stuff, Level 42 frontman Mark King tells pop star hopefuls at auditions (From Bournemouth Echo)

VIDEO: Strut your stuff, Level 42 frontman Mark King tells pop star hopefuls at auditions

11:00am Thursday 21st February 2013 in News By Melanie Vass

LEVEL 42 star Mark King visited teenage music hopefuls in Bournemouth and told them: “This is a great time to try and break into the music business.”

The eighties singer and bassist visited the ACMR music academy in Kinson, where he is a patron, to pass on some words of encouragement.

The Isle of Wight based musician also helped audition 16-20 year olds for a limited number of places on the academy’s performance diploma course.

He said: “It’s nice that every once in a while I get the chance to come in and meet the new batch of students. I explain what I’ve done in the music business, how I got started and hopefully be something of an inspiration to them.

“It’s good to hear when you’re up and coming. It can’t be too bad to meet somebody who started out exactly the same as them.”

He said the fact that he had succeeded, despite coming from an Isle of Wight “backwater,” should give hope to wannabe musicians.

And when asked what advice he would give them, he said: “You need complete self-belief, because you’re the only one who’s going to carry you through the times when you’re struggling to make money and when you’re struggling to come up with new material.

“You’ve got to keep your nose to the grindstone, the music won’t come unless you do, you have to make it happen. Believe in yourself and work hard.”

He said he listened to 6 Music and was inspired by a whole host of new acts, including Dutch Uncles, Stubborn Heart and Everything Everything.

”I’m inspired by what’s going on in the music business today,” he said. “It’s probably more exciting now than it has been for the last 15 years.”