A singer-songwriter from north Essex is one performance away from appearing at London’s 02 Arena in a national music competition.

Jerome Anthony, 33, from Gosfield, near Braintree, is set to take to the stage in the area final of the Open Mic UK 2013 event being held in Hayes, Middlesex this weekend. Should he be successful, he will be heading for the London finals in January where a £5,000 cash prize will be up for grabs.

A landscaper by day, Mr Anthony, 33, writes all his own songs and in the past has performed in front of a celebrity audience at Prince Charles’ birthday celebrations at Buckingham Palace and at a private party for actress Barbara Windsor.

He has always harboured an ambition to make music full-time and has been spurred to give it another go after three of his songs made the finals a UK song writing competition earlier this year.

A previous winner of the Open Mic UK event was Birdy who had a hit with her debut single Skinny Love.