THE career of Sale singer songwriter Gareth Evans (pictured) has received a major boost.

Gareth, 29, has just reached the regional finals of the UK Open Mic Competition and if he wins the contest, he could receive a recording contract and up to £30,000 to develop his music.

The artist impressed the judges with his performance of You Don’t Know What It Feels Like, one his own songs, at the event in Salford.

Gareth says he had been practising hard for the competition, which attracted more than 8,000 entries from across the UK.

“The other people who were playing were playing slow, acoustic songs and the song I did was really fast and in your face and loud,” he says.

Gareth says the competition was divided into two sections, for the over 25s and the under 25s. The regional finals take place at the Willows rugby ground in October and the Grand Final takes place at London’s O2 Arena in the New Year.

His music has been particularly well received in Japan and next month the singer songwriter, whose material embraces a range of musical genres, will start work on album number four. To give you an idea of how versatile this young performer is, his most recent release, The Electronic Era is an electronic dance album while he describes its predecessor, Moving In Circles as an idie pop/rock album. Rick Bowen * Anyone interested in finding out more about Gareth and his music should visit www.garethevansmusic.com You can also visit www.myspace.com/garethevans