The Voice UK is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The first series began on 24 March 2012 and ended on 2 June 2012. The show was co-presented by Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates on BBC One. The series was won by Leanne Mitchell, who was on Tom Jones' team.
Becky Hill, who was on Jessie J’s team and eliminated in the fifth live show (semi-final) of the competition, reached number one in the UK Singles Chart as a guest vocalist on the hit song, "Gecko (Overdrive)" alongside Dutch DJ Oliver Heldens, and would go on to find further success in the music industry after that.
Coaches and presenters
Huge speculation began when the BBC announced that there would be four coaches on the panel of The Voice. It was said that Kylie Minogue was due to become a coach on the show, but it would have cost the TV station too much to get her on the panel. Her sister, Dannii Minogue was also confirmed to be in the running after she left the panel of The X Factor. Mark Owen and Lenny Kravitz were strong candidates for the role. Frankie Sandford of The Saturdays was also confirmed to be in the running. The show's producers were impressed with Cee Lo Green's performance on the American TV series version and wanted him on the British version, but he turned the chance down. Dannii Minogue's former work mate, Cheryl Cole was also said to be a candidate. However, Cole and Minogue were both ruled out after producers said they wanted to "start fresh" and not have The X Factor left overs. However, though Cole and Minogue were ruled out the BBC were keen to show enthusiasm about Charlotte Church, Robbie Williams and Jessie J was also announced to be in with a chance. Tom Jones was offered a role, and later accepted the offer. It was revealed that Sandford was on the verge of signing a contract to become a coach. George Michael and Mary J. Blige were also being considered, with Blige saying on Alan Carr: Chatty Man she has had meetings about her future on the show, she spoke "I have been approached and we have been in discussions about The Voice. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right now. We'll have to wait and see. " will.i.am was confirmed to be close to signing a contract with the show's producers. It was said that Sandford was awaiting to finalise her contract, but she pulled out because of her "busy schedule".
Controversy arose after Danny O'Donoghue was announced as a coach, being picked over Will Young. Young put on his Twitter account, "The Voice came, the Voice went. They wanted to go more rock... Should have dusted off my Leather jacket! Hey ho, (sic)" he said, before adding: "Hang on... Just got Jimmy Page on the line. I'm commiserating him." A tweet the previous night may have also been connected to the loss of role saying, "Words escape me. Life is sometimes a bitch".
Former The X Factor contestants Shayne Ward and Stacey Solomon were both in the running to be hosts. The One Show presenter Alex Jones was also a possibility. Despite Dermot O'Leary signing a three-year contract with The X Factor, The Voice producers were eager to have him present the show. However, former, The Xtra Factor and This Morning host, Holly Willoughby was confirmed to be a candidate after she left as the host on Dancing on Ice. It was later confirmed that Willoughby and BBC Radio presenter, Reggie Yates would be the presenters.
Teams Key
Coaches Top 40 Artists will.i.am Tyler James Jaz Ellington Frances Wood Joelle Moses Sophie Griffin Heshima Thompson Jay Norton Kate Read Jenny Jones J Marie Cooper Jessie J Vince Kidd Becky Hill Toni Warne Cassius Henry Ruth-Ann St. Luce Jessica Hammond Indie & Pixie Kirsten Joy David Faulkner Ben Kelly Sir Tom Jones Leanne Mitchell Ruth Brown Matt & Sueleen Adam Isaac Sam Buttery Barbara Bryceland Deniece Pearson Lindsey Butler Denise Morgan Aundrea Nyle Danny O'Donoghue Bo Bruce Max Milner David Julien Aleks Josh Hannah Berney Vince Freeman Bill Downs John James Newman Emmy J Mac Murray Hockridge
Blind auditions The blind auditions began in London on 18 January 2012 at the BBC Television Centre and finished filming on 22 January 2012. Each coach has the length of the artists' performance to decide if they want that artist on their team. Should two or more coaches want the same artist, then the artist gets to choose their coach. Once the coaches have picked their team, they are to pit them against each other in the ultimate sing off; the battles.
Colour key Coach hit their "I WANT YOU" button Artist defaulted to this coach's team Artist chose to join this coach's team Artist eliminated with no coach pressing their "I WANT YOU" button Artist had all four chairs turned
Episode 1 (24 March) The first blind audition episode was broadcast on 24 March 2012.
Group performance: The Voice UK Coaches – "I Gotta Feeling"
Order Artist Age Song Coaches and artists choices will.i.am Jessie Tom Danny 1Jessica Hammond17"Price Tag" 2 Sean Conlon 30 "Trouble" — — — — 3 Sam Buttery 20 "Set Fire to the Rain" — — — 4 Toni Warne 34 "Leave Right Now" — 5 Aundrea Nyle 36 "Crazy" — — — 6 Adam Isaac 28 "Maybe Tomorrow" — — 7 Max Milner 20 "Come Together"/"Lose Yourself" — 8Ben Kelly22"Rocket Man" 9 Twinnie-Lee Moore 24 "The Climb" — — — — 10 Phil Poole 27 "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" — — — — 11J Marie Cooper27"Mamma Knows Best"
Episode 2 (31 March) The second blind audition episode was broadcast on 31 March 2012.
Order Artist Age Song Coaches and artists choices will.i.am Jessie Tom Danny 1Heshima Thompson25"Dynamite" 2 Barbara Bryceland 49 "Wild Horses" — — — 3 David Julien 23 "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" — — 4Kerry Ellis31"Son of a Preacher Man" — — — — 5Vince Kidd22"Like a Virgin" 6 Shansel Huseyin 17"Nessun dorma" — — — — 7 Ross Wild N/A"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" — — — — 8 Sam Thornton N/A "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" — — — — 9 Siobhan Stott N/A "Hallelujah" — — — — 10 Vince Freeman 34 "Sex on Fire" — — — 11 Aleks Josh 17 "I'm Yours" — — 12 Frances Wood 18 "Where Is the Love?" — — — 13 Matt & Sueleen 34 & 34 "A Little Time" — — 14 Holly Cosgrove 16 "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" — — — — 15 Deniece Pearson 43 "Fighter" — — — 16David Faulkner29"Superstition"
Episode 3 (7 April) The third blind audition episode was broadcast on 7 April 2012.
Order Artist Age Song Coaches and artists choices will.i.am Jessie Tom Danny 1Joelle Moses21"Rolling in the Deep" 2 Jay Norton 24 "I Need a Dollar" — — 3 Allyson Brown 29 "Somebody Else's Guy" — — — — 4 Leanne Mitchell 28 "If I Were a Boy" — — 5 Cassius Henry 32 "Closer" — — 6 Denise Morgan 31 "Love Song" — — — 7 Murray Hockridge 47 "You Give Me Something" — — — 8 Hannah Berney 20 "You and I" — — 9 Cris Grixti 31 "Forget You" — — — — 10 Bill Downs 23 "She Said" — — — 11 Kate Read 19 "True Colors" — — 12 Kirsten Joy 25 "Heaven" — — — 13 Ruth-Ann St. Luce 18 "Run" — — — 14 Alys Williams 24 "Someone like You" — — — — 15 Nathan James 23 "Livin' on a Prayer" — — — — 16 Tyler James 27 "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" — — — 17 Bo Bruce 28 "Without You" — —
Episode 4 (14 April) The fourth and final blind audition episode was broadcast on 14 April 2012.
Order Artist Age Song Coaches and artists choices will.i.am Jessie Tom Danny 1 Emmy J Mac 21 "Put Your Records On" — 2 Jenny Jones 25 "Mercy" — — 3 Sophie Griffin 17 "American Boy" — — — 4 Ben Lake33"I (Who Have Nothing)" — — — — 5Indie & Pixie17 & 18"Perfect" 6 Lindsey Butler 41 "I Don't Want to Talk About It" — — — 7 Harriet Whitehead17"What's Up?" — — — — 8 John James Newman 33 "Pack Up"/"Don't Worry, Be Happy" — — 9 Ruth Brown 19 "When Love Takes Over" — — 10 Becky Hill 18 "Ordinary People" 11Chloe Blackwell21"This Love" — 12Daniel Walker35"Kiss from a Rose" — 13 Jaz Ellington 27 "The A Team" Notes
The artist Jaz Ellington was requested, by coach Jessie J, to sing a second track; despite having already joined coach will.i.am's team. Ellington selected "Ordinary People" by John Legend, having already performed "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran.
Battle rounds The recording of the battle rounds took place on 22 and 23 February 2012 at The Fountain Studios in Wembley with five artists from each team progressing to the live shows. Each coach pitted two of their ten artists together as they performed a song of the coach's choice at the same time in a boxing ring-styled stage. After the two artists completed the song, one progressed to the live shows and one was eliminated from the competition. Once the coaches had completed this process, they each had five artists for the live shows.
The battle advisors for these episodes were: Paloma Faith working with Danny O'Donoghue, Cerys Matthews of Catatonia working with Tom Jones, Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters working with Jessie J, and Dante Santiago working with will.i.am.
The battle round episodes aired on the 21 and 22 April 2012, in a special "battles weekend" (as the blind auditions were only shown on Saturdays).
Colour key Artist won the Battle and advanced to the Live shows Artist lost the Battle and was eliminated
Episode Coach Order Winner Song Loser Episode 1 will.i.am 1 Joelle Moses "I'm Every Woman" Jenny Jones Danny O'Donoghue 2 Max Milner "Beggin'" Bill Downs Tom Jones 3 Sam Buttery "A Little Less Conversation" Aundrea Nyle Jessie J 4 Toni Warne "Think" Kirsten Joy Danny O'Donoghue 5 Bo Bruce "With or Without You" Vince Freeman will.i.am 6 Tyler James "Yeah 3x" Heshima Thompson Jessie J 7 Vince Kidd "We Found Love" Jessica Hammond will.i.am 8 Jaz Ellington "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" Jay Norton Tom Jones9 Ruth Brown "No One" Deniece Pearson Episode 2 Jessie J 1 Cassius Henry "Beat It" David Faulkner Tom Jones 2 Leanne Mitchell "The Edge of Glory" Barbara Bryceland will.i.am 3 Frances Wood "Ironic" Kate Read Danny O'Donoghue 4 Aleks Josh "Broken Strings" Emmy J Mac Jessie J 5 Ruth-Ann St. Luce "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" Ben Kelly Tom Jones 6 Matt & Sueleen "Born to Run" Lindsey Butler Danny O'Donoghue 7 Hannah Berney "Kids" Murray Hockridge Jessie J 8 Becky Hill "Irreplaceable" Indie & Pixie Tom Jones 9 Adam Isaac "Use Somebody" Denise Morgan will.i.am 10 Sophie Griffin "Firework" J Marie Cooper Danny O'Donoghue 11 David Julien "Dakota" John James Newman
Live shows The live performance shows are aired live from Elstree Studios and will run for six consecutive weeks, ending on 2 June 2012. The first results show on 29 April featured a performance from American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey with British singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé performing during the second results show on 6 May 2012. American group Scissor Sisters performed during the third result show on 13 May 2012 with The Voice UK Battle Round Adviser Paloma Faith performing during the fourth results show on 20 May 2012. Cheryl and Kylie Minogue performed during the fifth live show It was confirmed on 18 May 2012 that the final on 2 June 2012 would feature performances from Ed Sheeran and Maroon 5.
Results summary Team’s Colour Key Team Will Team Jessie Team Tom Team Danny
Result's colour key –Contestant was in the bottom two or three –Contestant was eliminated –Contestant who received the most public votes – Contestant did not perform on that particular week