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Tokio Myers Will Donate 'Britain's Got Talent' Winnings To Build Music School

Tokio Myers Will Donate 'Britain's Got Talent' Winnings To Build Music School

He won Britain's Got Talent on Saturday night.

James Dawson

James Dawson

Britain's Got Talent winner Tokio Myers has said that he wants to use his £250,000 winnings to set up a music school for young people from underprivileged backgrounds.

The London-based musician beat eight-year-old magician Issy Simpson and comedian Daliso Chaponda to become the winner of the ITV talent show on Saturday - after the programme was moved from its usual Sunday slot to avoid clashing with the 'One Love' benefit concert.

Relive the moment it was announced he would win the prize money, along with a chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance, here...

Credit: ITV / Britain's Got Talent

Growing up, multi-instrumentalist Tokio saw his head teacher, Philip Lawrence, stabbed to death outside the gates of St George's Catholic school in north London. Tokio was 11 at the time of the attack by gang member Learco Chindamo and was led to safety inside the building by his music teacher.

And following his win, Tokio told the Mirror he would like to use his prize money to motivate children from similar backgrounds to become musicians. He said: "I would love to be able to set up my own music school one day to mentor and inspire other people.

"If I get a real shot at being successful I would love to do talks at school.

"I want to push the boundaries and break stereotypes about classical music.

Credit: ITV / Britain's Got Talent

"We live in a time when you can no longer judge a book by its cover.

"It's OK to be different - and I want to be at the forefront of that.

"I want to inspire people."

Tokio's act saw him performing mashups of pop songs with original piano scores. ITV has revealed that he received 24.2 percent of the total vote in the final, while eight-year-old magician Issy took home 17.5 percent.

Original favourites DNA lost the final with three percent, after messing up their final 'mind-reading' trick.

Credit: ITV / Britain's Got Talent

An average total of 8.2million viewers tuned in to catch the finale, with the audience peaking at 10.2million in the final five minutes when it was revealed that Tokio had won the competition.

Before winning the top prize, he told The Sun: "Music and having that thing kept me out of a lot of trouble. I could have probably ended up in gangs, or been dead or in jail or whatever.

"Looking at the people I grew up around, I've had people I went to school with who are no longer here today because they're either literally dead or in jail. It's still going on."

The 32-year-old warmed the hearts of many with his rendition of Debussy's 'Clair de lune' and Ed Sheeran's song 'Bloodstream' in the final and now it looks like he's going to be inspiring young people in the future.

Featured Image Credit: ITV / Britain's Got Talent

Topics: Music, Britain's Got Talent

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