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Torville Jones (Professionally known as Tokio Myers) is a pianist who was the winner of Series 11 of Britain's Got Talent.
Before his audition, he stated that he grew up in a rough estate in London, which 'Played a role in sticking to music'. He also stated that his dad bought him a keyboard when he was 9, and that he played 'For hours and hours'. He couldn't afford to study at the London School of Music, however he worked hard and was offered a full scholarship.
In his audition, he played a rendition of 'Claire de Lune' by Debussy, which led into an instrumental cover of 'Bloodstream' by Ed Sheeran. Alesha described it as 'Really edgy and really refreshing', whilst David simply stated 'You had us from the first moment'.
In his Semi-Final, he performed a version of 'Diamonds' by Rihanna, with butterflies on the background of the stage. Towards the end of his performance, the piano raised off the ground toward the top of the arena. Simon remarked 'I’m really really excited about what’s going to happen in your life next', with David adding 'You have the potential to introduce us to a whole new audience'.
In his Final performance, he performed an alternative version of 'Human' by Rag 'n' Bone Man, with a choir entering the stage midway through his performance. David remarked 'The way you put these style of music together is magical', whist Simon described his performance as 'Absolutely breathtakingly good'. He won the public vote, beating magician Issy Simpson to 1st place.
Before BGT[]
Tokio had previously supported Kanye West, The Police and Amy Winehouse when he toured with producer Mr Hudson's band Mr Hudson and the Library. He also supported Lianne La Havas on her 2016 European Tour. He used synths and a sample pad as part of his performances, and fused classical roots with dance and pop genres. He was signed to a publishing deal with BMG at the time.
After BGT[]
In June 2017, Tokio provided piano instrumentals on the Artists For Grenfell version of Simon & Garfunkel song Bridge Over Troubled Water which topped the UK Official Charts for a week after dethroning Despacito with help from the television industry playing the version of the song in their bid to raise money following the Grenfell Tower Blaze by topping the charts with it.
Tokio released his debut single, Angel, in November 2017, performing it on The X Factor on the same week. After his performance, the song reached #61 in the Official Singles Chart. Later he returned to The X Factor as contestant Kevin Davy White's duet partner duetting to Fastlove Pt. 1 by George Michael in The X Factor Final, which would have been Kevin's winners single if he'd have won, yet Kevin placed third overall.
In December 2017, Tokio performed on Ashley Banjo and Diversity's 'A Night for the Emergency Services' ITV Special.[1]
Tokio's debut album, 'Our Generation', which featured tracks Bloodstream, Baltimore, Angel and Children, was released the same month, reaching #4 in the Albums Chart. He also released a remix of the Clean Bandit featuring Julia Michaels song I Miss You in 2017.
In March 2018, Tokio produced England's theme to the 2018 Commonwealth Games - a cover of 'Jerusalem' featuring Jazmin Sawyers. In June 2018 he returned to BGT during it's final Semi-Final as a guest performer, performing Children from his album Our Generation.
In 2019, Tokio took part in America's Got Talent: The Champions, a spin-off of America's Got Talent featuring many past Got Talent contestants from international franchises, wherein he partook in the fifth preliminary yet failed to reach the Final. He later appeared as a guest on the 14th series of AGT on 11th September 2019 with Stewart Copeland who is a drummer from band 'The Police' performing Safe and Sound by Capital Cities. He later released his own song named Safe and Sound in 2019 featuring The X Factor Series 14 Runner-Up Grace Davies.
In Winter 2020, Tokio accompanied judge Alesha Dixon in a performance of 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas' by Michael Bublé by playing the piano as she sang during the Britain's Got Talent Christmas Spectacular.
Trivia[]
- He is the first ever instrumentalist to win the show.