Out of more than 1,000 competitors from around the world, former home-grown lakecity resident Don Alder emerged the winner in the Guitar Idol III finals held last week in London England.
“It was an honour to compete in the Guitar Idol UK in London,” Alder says.
“I’m blown away and was so honoured and humbled to win this against some amazing players from around the world.”
Guitar Idol III started with original entries from more than 1,000 contestants from around the world on the Lick Library site.
The 12 finalists including Alder flew in to London from as far away as Singapore, Guatemala, Chile, Israel, Romania, Russia, Germany, France, Canada, the UK and Italy to compete in the finals on Dec. 4 at The Garage in Islington, London.
Nico Schliemann, a concert guitarist from Germany, won the best newcomer award. Marius Pop, a busy session guitarist from Romania, won the Jaden Rose Special Award.
Alder says he was a bit worried about how his performance might turn out because he was playing the Yamaha guitar that was damaged prior his last concert held in Williams Lake in November.
“I used duct tape to hold it together and good thing it held together for the competition,” says Alder, who has won many previous awards including the Guitar Player Magazine’s 2010 Guitar Superstar Title Winner.
“What thrills me is that a small town boy could go on to win all the major guitar contests in the world.
“So it looks like I’m retiring from guitar contests … What’s next … maybe bingo. Ha ha.”
All of the finalists will have the video of their performances put up on the Lick Library site so the public can pick their winners and these fan-based winners will also be awarded prizes.
Brian Sawyer, who helped to organize Alder’s very successful concert in Williams Lake last month, says that concert raised $3,700 for the Station House Gallery.