THEY RE called Fiftysix and they have just made it through to the regional finals of a major talent contest. And you could be hearing a lot more from them if their dreams of a recording contract come true. The band won through to the regional finals of Li

THEY'RE called Fiftysix and they have just made it through to the regional finals of a major talent contest. And you could be hearing a lot more from them if their dreams of a recording contract come true.

The band won through to the regional finals of Live and Unsigned UK after impressing the judges with a part of one of their tracks "shadows".

They're hoping for success in the regional finals on March 29 and the national finals after that, with a recording contract not far off.

The band comprises Danielle Smith, 26 and brother Paul, 24, of Stratford; Chennine George, 27, of Plaistow; John Lovell, 24, of Grays, Joel Letort, 49, of Forest Gate and Phildas Bhakta, 38.

And how did they come up with the name? It's the number for Danielle and Paul's house, where the band was originally created. John Lovell's house bears the same number.

Danielle said: "It would be a dream for us to be signed to a record label and for our songs to be played to a much wider audience. We, as a band, have so much drive and ambition we will not stop until we get to where we want to be.

"We feel our music is a breath of fresh air and is very different from the mainstream music that is heard today. As we all have different musical influences, our songs are a mixture of pop, rock, soul, funk, R&B and many more genres, so it will hopefully appeal to a wide and varied range of listeners.

"We are absolutely ecstatic about making it through to the regional finals of this competition and we are looking forward to performing to a live audience."

- KAY ATWAL