Count's Chris Mekhail was crowned 2014 Rockstar this year for his soaring rendition of Swedish House Mafia hit 'Don't You Worry Child' at the annual Who wants to be a RockStar event organised by the Finance Industry Community Aid Program (FICAP).
The music industry's loss was the finance industry's gain as the performers belted out their covers of Madonna, Daft Punk, Stevie Wonder and more to a sold out crowd at the Beresford Hotel in Sydney's Surry Hills.
The event raised more than $100,000 in aid of three charities: Weave Youth and Community Services, which works with disadvantaged and vulnerable young people, women, children and families; Redkite, which supports children, young people and their families affected by cancer; and YWCA NSW, whose mission is to "support vulnerable people across NSW at times in their lives when they need it most."
One of the highlights of the evening was a rap written and performed by 15-year-olds Beau Foster and Kobie Duncan, who have been part of Weave's 'Kool Kids' program. Trei Stewart, also part of the program, opened the evening with the Acknowledgement of Country.
Weave director Shane Brown said: "The Kool Kids program has been running for 13 years, and we work with 160 kids a year. 89% of those children are Aboriginal and many have problems with truancy and behavioural problems at school. Many also have problems at home."
Count's Mekhail was not the only winner. KPMG's Sarah Marshall took the best newcomer prize for her rendition of the Eurythmic's "Would I lie to you", while best female artist went to Fidelity's Dinah Sutton for her version of Madonna's Like a Prayer.
FICAP's sponsors are:
Platinum - ANZ, Challenger, Colonial First State, Perpetual.
Gold - Aberdeen, Ausbil, Bennelong, BT Financial Group, BT Investment Management, Capital Group, Citi, Count, Equity Trustees, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton Investments, Henderson Global Investors, Hub24, Ironbark, KPMG, Macquarie, Magellan, Man Investments, MLC, nabInvest, Omega Global Investors, Partners Group, Perennial Investment Partners, PM Capital, Profusion, RNC Global Projects, Robeco, SouthernSun Asset Management, Spire Capital, State Street Global Advisors, UBS, Vanguard, Zurich.
