A young solo artist from Romford has skyrocketed into the finals of a national singing competition.

Alfie Arger, 14, from Harold Hill, will be competing in this year’s Open Mic UK finals at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham on January, 20.

The singer, who goes to Bower Park Academy, on Havering Road, made through the semi final with a mash-up rendition of Bill Wither’s ‘Ain’t No Sunshine.’

Alfie said: “In November I competed in the London area final of Open Mic UK. I managed to win this and am now in the National Final.

“This is something I am both excited and proud of. I am hopeful that this should be the biggest stage I have performed on.”

The teen singer enjoys working on his own songs and lyrics alongside his guitar and keyboard lessons.

Reacting to Alfie’s success, dad Jonathan said: “I am proud as punch.

“It is only this last year that he has really gone into the singing.

“He seems to be progressing leaps and bounds.”

Open Mic UK is a national music competition which seekers out the next best unsigned singers and songwriters in the country.

Alfie was selected among four other contestants, fighting off fierce competition, by a panel of judges linked to music labels including Universal, Warner and Sony.

In order to win the grand final, he must come within the highest combined ranking based on the judge’s sores and text-in votes from the public.

Alfie was one of ten finalists in the 2017 Parkdean Resorts national tournament in November and has previously won a Jack Petchey award in 2016 for supporting pupils and charity events.

He is group leader of the glee club at his school and his ultimate goal is to becoming a best-selling singer/songwriter.

Starting in 2007, the Open Mic UK competition features around 10,000 competitors annually.

You can vote for Alfie by texting OPEN08 to 84222.