L-R: John Varvatos, Scott Borchetta, Ivory Black, Keenan Frankling

Kansas City, Mo.-native Ivory Black was crowned the winner of Cumulus Media's inaugural neXt2rock 2017 competition, which resulted in the signing of a record deal with Big Machine/John Varvatos Records. The final event, which took place at L.A.'s Viper Room Tuesday night, included performances from the Top 5 national finalists, as well as a special one from Varvatos Records band Badflower.

"John and I came together with an A&R mission to find a unique artist with a vision, and last night we found that in Ivory Black [who will receive national airplay on Cumulus stations]," said BMLG President & CEO Scott Borchetta. "There are artists like Ivory Black that never would have had an opportunity to showcase their talent, and the power of rock radio brought us five great acts, with Ivory Black prevailing."

"Radio leads the way when it comes to music discovery," said Cumulus EVP Programming and Content Mike McVay. "neXt2rock 2017 genuinely discovers new artists, enables all of the contestants to be heard and allows the winners to take advantage of an amazing opportunity to have their music backed by a major label as well as played nationally on the radio. We're very excited to see what the future holds for Ivory Black."

The competition's verdict was decided by a panel of rock music luminaries and industry professionals, who will continue to serve as mentors for Black. They include Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, Sex Pistols guitarist and Jonesy's Jukebox host Steve Jones, Borchetta, fashion designer and record label head Varvatos, musician, songwriter and producer Desmond Child and engineer/mixer Chris Lord-Alge.

L-R: Matt Pinfield, John Varvatos, Chris Lord-Alge, Scott Borchetta, Steve Jones, Gavin Rossdale,
Desmond Child