It was a night of sweet victory for stardom-seeking band, B.E.A.T, when it displaced its arch-rivals to emerge the winner of this year’s edition of Star Quest during thegrand finale of the music talent hunt show sponsored by Star premium lager.

B.E.A.T band was adjudged the most popular band during the final showdown of the competition which took place at Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos State.

The gender-balanced music group of three males and three females amassed the largest volume of votes from its fans within and outside Nigeria to comfortably beat two other finalists; Harmonics and Storm Bands to clinch the coveted title and recognition of ‘Star Quest Band 2011’.

All three bands who successfully made it as finalists after the eviction of Bliss, Golden Flames and D’Xtreme bands had to rely solely on text messages sent in by their supporters to win, unlike during the audition stages when appointed judges had the final say.

Having won, members of B.E.A.T band also secured for themselves, a delightful reward package consisting of N3.6 million cash prize, a recording contract worth N7.5 million, a mini-van and one year free accommodation in Lagos.

Topping up the list of goodies is the guaranteed performances that the winning band will get at all Star-sponsored events, including Star Trek and Star Mega Jam.

Sales Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Hubert Eze who represented the Managing Director of the company presented a dummy cheque and the key to a mini-van to the winning group, while congratulating them and also seizing the opportunity to thank all that participated in the event.

During the well attended grand finale, a large audience that included music celebrities was entertained with laudable performances from the three finalists. B.E.A.T, Harmonics and Storm bands each gave two performances; the first being another original composition, while the other was a reproduction of an international hit.

First to perform was the Harmonics band who did a fresh track carrying the chorus “Na you be the only one I want, baby”. The talented group then went on to thrill the audience with a repeat performance of ‘I’m coming home’ by renowned international artiste, Diddy Dirty Money when called on stage for a second performance.

Storm band, who went on stage next, also gave a rendition of its newly composed song titled ‘I’m your number one’.

Members of the group then went on to get an excited audience singing along to Cher’s ‘Do you believe’ during a second time on stage. Their rendition of the classic song from the world- acclaimed female musician got all applauding at its end.

When it got to the turn of B.E.A.T band, shouts and screams of admiration were heard as the group performed a new song with the title ‘Been in the rain’. They later went back on stage to give a repeat performance of Celine Dion’s ‘I’m your angel’ and their effort yielded much encouragement from a very animated crowd.

The evening of spectacular music performances became even more exciting when all three finalists chorused “We are the light across the world” in a song that saw them singing together on stage for the first time since the contest began.

B.E.A.T Band, whose members threw themselves to the floor and shed tears of joy after being announced as the winning band, said they were overjoyed by their victory. According to the band’s three lead singers, “We are so happy that we won and we dedicate our victory to all Nigerians and others who voted for us. We say a humble thank you for choosing us and we promise not to disappoint you”.

The grand finale of the Star lager supported show drew the curtain on this year’s edition of the music reality talent hunt show that journeyed through regional auditions to see the emergence of 36 lucky individuals who formed bands after making it to Fameland.

B.E.A.T has now successfully achieved a huge feat by adding its name unto the list of bands that have emerged as Star Quest winners to include KC Presh, D’ Accord, Jewelz, Diamondz, The Pulse and JukeBox.