Former student Berwyn’s debut album is shortlisted at the Mercury Music Awards

Students from New City College Music and Performing Arts teams took inspiration from former student Berwyn Du Bois as they watched him perform on BBC4 at the Mercury Music Awards.

The rapper and musician, known only as Berwyn, studied Performing Arts and Music Technology at Havering Sixth Form in 2014. He was on the Mercury Prize 2024 shortlist for his debut album, Who Am I, and gave a performance of his rap, Dear Immigration, at the awards evening in September.

The music industry described his nominated album as ‘a remarkable work, where his powerful, socially astute lyrics simmer in a concoction of R&B, hip-hop, steel pan and Latin guitar’.

The New City College students were thrilled to watch him as his work was showcased alongside fellow shortlisted artists such as Charlie XCX, Corinne Bailey-Rae, Ghetts and The Last Dinner Party. The eventual winners of the Album of the Year were a band called English Teacher.

Over the last few years Berwyn has performed at the Reading and Leeds festivals, has been co-signed by Drake and was featured in a segment on Later… with Jools Holland.

Music teacher Chris Donnelly said: “Although we were all a bit disappointed that Berwyn didn’t win the Mercury prize, we were happy to see him doing so well in his career and wish him all the very best in his future.

“The students were inspired by seeing a musician, who started off where they are now, following his dreams and being so successful in the industry.”

Berwyn is playing EartH Hall in Dalston, Hackney, on Wednesday 27 November at 7.30pm.

For more, see Berwyn’s YouTube channel.

Student Success

This year the Havering Sixth Form music department has been lucky to have had some very talented students who have gone on to take up various opportunities.

Thomas Middleton, a talented singer, guitarist and music producer has been offered a place at the most prestigious university course for Music Technology – The Tonmeister Sound Engineering course at Surrey University in Guildford. Thomas was presented with the A Level Media and Performance Student of the Year at the Havering Sixth Form campus awards evening this year and with an A* in Music Technology and As and Bs in Maths and Physics, he is set for a bright future.

Student Diamond Anthony is an in-demand talented rapper and producer who has been picked up by Blackbox on YouTube and has received rave reviews and comments for recordings for their Blackout Sessions and is a name to look out for in the future. See their YouTube performances here and here.

Rachel Mukasa is an extremely talented singer and songwriter who studied A Levels in Music, English Literature and Film Studies. Since leaving college this summer, she has sung with multi-BRIT award-winning Raye at Wembley Stadium and has been busy recording some of her first studio tracks. A versatile singer in many genres, she sung with the rock band at Havering Sixth Form and often sings in jazz and pop styles as well. Music industry experts have commented that she has the potential to be a huge star!

Congratulations and good luck to all our talented students!