With his rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend” by Carole King, Jake Piascik is your 2024 Marblehead’s Got Talent winner.
The finals, featuring 10 Marblehead students, took place at the Cabot Theater in Beverly last Wednesday night in front of a crowd of family members, friends, and fellow students. Marblehead’s Got Talent, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Marblehead, is a yearly competition in which students battle it out for a share of scholarship money.
On hand to determine the winners and provide feedback to the young artists were judges Johnny Ray, Paula Gaull, Brian Wheeler, and Henley Douglas.
Piascik, a senior at Marblehead High School, was awarded $5,000 in scholarships for winning this year’s contest. A predominantly self-taught pianist and vocalist, Piascik draws inspiration from multiple artists including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Earth Wind and Fire, playing their music at open mic nights.
Recently, he won an award for his arrangement of “Bills, Bills, Bills” by Destiny’s Child. Piascik will attend Berklee College of Music in the fall.
Lani Gilmore was this year’s runner-up after her performance of “A Moment Like This,” winning a $3,000 scholarship prize. Coming in third place and winning $2,000 in scholarships was Brady Weed, who sang “Finishing the Hat” from the musical “Sunday in the Park with George.”
Gilmore, a junior at Marblehead High School and an athlete on the girls soccer and tennis teams, is part of the Jewel Tones a cappella group. She draws her inspiration from country artists like Kacey Musgraves and Deana Carter.
Weed has performed in more than 25 musicals and plays, and has sung with the Massachusetts Senior District choirs for the last two years and starred in a short film produced by the high school’s film club. In addition, he has co-written and co-directed a play, which will be performed at Dramafest this year.
The 10 finalists were chosen by a crowd of nearly 300 inside the High School auditorium at the Marblehead’s Got Talent Semifinals. The audience cast their vote for 10 out of the 15 semifinalists, with the top four vote-getters being awarded an additional $500 in scholarships at the end of the finals. Those four included Gilmore, Brooklyn Lorenz, Sadie Newburg, and Anthony Vizy.