Twelve musicians are battling it out to be named the best busker in Sussex.

The Argus has filmed the hopefuls during the past few weeks and we are now handing over the final decision to you the reader.

The voting process opens today and gives you the opportunity to pick your top tune and uncover a local talent.

The Yellow Fish Music Group, based in Margaret Street, Brighton, has offered a day in its studio with the use of experienced engineers to bring the winner’s sound to life.

The ten-hour day will see the winner come away with a CD recording at the end.

THE CONTESTANTS

Name: Jake Gillespie
Age: 21
From: Brighton
Plays: A Telecaster electric guitar.
He said: “I play covers which I have a connection with but also my own tunes.
“I want to have fun and sustain myself with it. People come and say hi and recognise me.
“My first big influence was Nirvana and then the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jimi Hendrix before I branched out.”
Mr Gillespie also plays acoustic guitar and bass, and performs with a band called Wolflung when not busking.

Name: Einar Stevens
Age: 63
From: Worthing
Plays: Melodeon.
He said: “Busking allows me to practise outside, which always goes down well in the home.
“There are some fantastic buskers – I would regard myself as more of a makeweight than a potential winner.
"I have been interested in traditional music since I was a teenager and the melodeon lends itself to dance music.
A friend of mine gave it to me four years ago and I just started playing it.”
Mr Stevens plays traditional English, Irish and French dance tunes a couple of times a month.

Name: Rafa Guallart
Age: 27
From: Valencia
Plays: Acoustic guitar.
He said: “I started with heavy metal when I was 17 but I damaged my ears.
“I’m 27 and I keep on playing. That’s why I’m busking, playing the blues, grunge and country.
“I used to play just covers because people like to hear things they know but I have some of my own music as well.”
From Valencia in Spain, Mr Guallart performs his guitar songs with a backing track.

Name: Danny McEvoy
From: Newhaven
Plays: Acoustic guitar.
He said: “You have to play what the public want. I wouldn’t make any money if I played my own stuff. “I stick to The Beatles and stuff from the 1960s.”
From Liverpool originally, it’s no surprise Mr McEvoy is a fan of the Fab Four.
He appeared in The Argus on Tuesday after becoming a Scandinavian sensation through YouTube.
He said the attention he is getting from the song has gone “ballistic”.

Names: Joseph Trudgeon and Bill Frampton
Age: 24 and 21
From: Somerset and Tonbridge
Play: Electric guitar and double bass.
Bill said: “I lived in Brighton for two years and we go back there to visit friends and enjoy ourselves.
“We usually play swing and jazz covers from the 1930s and 1940s. We started about two years ago and do it all the time, playing loads of bits and bobs.”
The pair are moving to Bristol soon but plan to visit Brighton when they can.

Name: Lucy Jarrett
Age: 48
From: Tunbridge Wells
Plays: Acoustic guitar.
She said: “My style is familiar to people – I’m a singer who plays guitar rather than a guitarist.
“I like to mix it up. I tend to stick to a lot of the old stuff, the stuff everybody forgets about.
“I’m quite an observational writer and the songs are stories; they have beginnings, middles and endings. If you only play your own stuff it can get boring but if you intersperse it with other stuff it’s fun.”

Name: Windy
Age: 46
From: Brighton
Plays: Mandolin.
He said: “I do mostly traditional songs, a few of my own songs and some which are more contemporary.
“I have been doing it full-time for three or four years now.
“The mandolin is small and easy to carry around and a bit different from guitar. “No one can please everybody but I never get complaints or moved on.”
Windy has been busking on and off for 16 years.

Name: Hannah Roach
Age: 21
From: Brighton
Plays: Guitar.
She said: “I don’t label myself as playing any one instrument really because I believe you have to perfect that instrument first.
“I play my own compositions, they are very different from other songs. Every time I do a song, I do it differently. I can write a new one in literally a minute. I don’t play for money – it’s just about another way to express myself.”
She moved from Manchester last September and studies fine art at the University of Brighton.

Name: Vadim Petrov
Age: 26
From: Latvia
Plays: Piano.
He said: “I was classically trained and my mother was a piano teacher so it went from there.
“I started playing on a cruise ship and played the grand piano and realised it’s not that bad playing in front of people. I do compose music and play other
people’s music as well.
"Sometimes I just start improvising.”
The Latvian started busking in January this year after studying at BIMM and is looking for new opportunities at the moment.

Name: Brian Tewson
From: Lewes
Plays: Turkish oud.
He said: “I improvise and sometimes write my own music.”
From Lewes, he plays a mixture of traditional tunes and more contemporary pieces.

Name: Alfio Strazzeri
From: Italy
Plays: Saxophone.
He said: “I love music and that’s the reason why I play it.”
From Sicily, he plays jazz motifs and improvisations around a theme.

Name: Alex Navas
Plays: Nylon-strung guitar.
He said: The Spanish flamenco guitarist plays in a variety of tunings and uses his plucking, strumming and tapping technique to create a rhythmic yet melodic sound.

VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE