As another tragic loss was reported recently from the highest echelons of the recording industry, I started thinking – who is going to replace the Whitneys or the MJ’s of my generation? Being a Piano Teacher based in West London, I’m involved with music education in the UK and am concerned about our current standards and methods. I believe the US has a lot to teach us about levels of performance within the pop industry and a general approach within pop genres to playing instruments and general musicianship.

So who is up to the task of taking the baton being passed down by artists of this calibre? While TV ‘talent’ shows purport to showcase new undiscovered artists, more often than not they are lowest-common-denominator shows designed by reality-TV hacks, and as such they focus much more on the cringe factor, than on a genuine search for exemplary performance and showmanship. More like a public hanging than a celebration of achievement!

And given that major record labels no longer develop acts – relegating any of the ‘lucky’ ones quickly to the rubbish heap if their first quarter’s figures fail to match up to predictions, who is going to nurture and encourage the major artists of the future? Will there actually BE any?

What made Whitney and MJ stand head and shoulders above the rest? Who are the new young giants wowing us with their performances and songwriting, in the way these legends of pop did when they amazed us all back in the day? Who is your favourite new artist to claim the crown and what qualities do they have in common with past kings and queens of pop?