Gina Horswood

When you meet Australian native Gina Horswood you notice all the charm and warmth you expect from an Aussie but when you hear her sing her songs you feel the depth and understanding of an artist. The winner of the Collingwood Live and Original Contest at last years Elvis Festival she’s taken her $3,000 winnings and used it to finish off her new album. We are looking forward to that coming out next month in the mean time enjoy this wonderful Gina Horswood track “Ordinary Girl” - The Peak FM

Gina Horswood has been selected as the winner of the first Collingwood Live & Original Music Series. Gina, of Queensland, Australia (by way of Toronto) was selected to compete in the live preliminary rounds.

Gina will take home $3,000 in prize money, and the honour of being the first winner of Collingwood Live & Original.

The Live & Original Music Series was a chance for music fans to get to know artists at the start of their careers, and to be able to say 'I saw them at the start.'

Due to a four-way tie for fourth place, judges advanced seven performers to the final round, instead of six.

Ian Raeburn came in second, and will take home $1,000 in prize money.

Third place went to Bernadette Connors ($500), fourth place was Austin McCarthy ($250), fifth place went to James Stephens ($150), sixth place was Luke Martin ($100) and seventh place went to Emerald Echoes ($50)

Audition videos for each contestant are available at Big Screen FX.

Audience members were able to cast a vote for their favourite artists in the first two rounds, which counted as part of the contestant's overall score.

The Live & Original Music Series is a feature event during the Collingwood Elvis Festival. As much as his voice, music, performance style, and personality combined to produce the effect that Elvis had on his fans; his origins and his true-life "rags to riches" story provided inspiration and a real attachment for his followers.

July 23 - 26, 2015, Collingwood ON collingwoodelvisfestival.com The "Live & Original Music Series" celebrates finding musical creativity and innovation at the grass-roots level. This is an opportunity to see unknown artists develop their own individual songwriting ability and performance style, in a competition format, performing their original songs live and in person. This is a music competition designed to give the audience a connection with the artist as he or she expresses their personal story through song.

Tickets for all three rounds sold out early as music fans jumped at the chance to see up-and-coming artists as they launch their music careers. - My Collingwood

LIKE a lot of people who grow up in small towns, Gina Horswood, spent a fair chunk of her formative years figuring out how to get out of Chinchilla.

Gina performed at her first ever live gig when she was only 8 years old, where, despite only hitting "three notes in key during the entire song," she said the experience had her hooked.

The rest of the budding musician's childhood and adolescence were spent performing with her family band around Chinchilla, honing her talents whilst her desire to make a career out of music swelled.

"The majority of the population regularly informed me that 'there was no future in music'," Gina recalled.

She also knew seeing what the world had to offer beyond her hometown meant depending on a path a bit more guaranteed than the musical one.

"I knew good grades were my ticket out of Chinchilla," Gina said.

Studying hard throughout high school led to acceptance into a Law Degree, which Gina says she half-heartedly slogged through a year of, and even though she passed her exams, she quit, because she wanted more.

In 2007, Gina flew to Nashville where, after just a month, she rediscovered her musical "drive".

"I had lost [it] after years of trying to fit the mould of a model citizen [but then it] found its way back to me and on came an array of new songs, and the rebirth of some old ones."

A "happy accident", otherwise known as the approaching expiration of her American tourist visa, led Gina to Canada.

She immediately fell in love with Toronto, where she began playing gigs, and then just never left.

"In Canada they call me "the thriller from Chinchilla"...seriously. So it doesn't matter where I go, Chinchilla is home, and everyone around me knows it. And it`s inspired a few songs, that`s for sure," she said.

"As for life in Chinchilla...that will always be a part of who I am and I think it has definitely influenced my song writing and my story." - The Chronicle