CARDIFF singing hopeful Faith Nelson will appear on The Voice this weekend.
The 18-year-old, who lives in Leckwith, took to the stage before Christmas in an attempt to impress the judges.
Faith received an e-mail out of the blue telling her she had made it through to the audition stages. She still doesn’t know who sent in the application form on her behalf.
She said: “I never would have decided to audition for a show like this, but one day I received an e-mail saying ‘thanks for your application’ and decided to go along with it.
“It it was the right time. I thought it would be good to do it before I consider going to university and focus on achieving my career.
“I used to really hate singing, but when I was nine, my mum made me stand in the living room by myself and told me that I wasn’t allowed to go until I had sung. She had heard something that I never did.
“When I was about 11, I knew that I could sing, but I never used to tell people. I would always shy away from it.”
The young singer has a wide variety of musical influences that range from Lisa Fischer to Adele. She is also a fan of Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, and has a strong love for Michael Jackson.
She said: “My ultimate music idol would have to be MJ. His passion and determination was incredible. He knew how to create wonderful music and his energy was just out of this world.
“He was literally the best. He was original and he was himself! There can never be another Michael Jackson, and I look up to that because I just want to be Faith and not anyone else.”
Faith, originally from Walthamstow, was one of the thousands of hopeful singers that performed in front of the new judging panel, which includes singers Paloma Faith, Boy George, will.i.am and Kaiser Chiefs frontman, Ricky Wilson.
Having performed very little in public before auditioning for the show, Faith was very nervous before taking to the stage. Her only former experience was occasionally performing in church.
She said: “Auditioning was the hardest situation for me. I was so scared. I couldn’t even eat.
“There is a new panel of judges this year, and they all seem very fun. However, performing in front of the coaches was overwhelming. I usually perform to myself in front of a mirror – the dramatic change is mind blowing.
“During my audition, the judges weren’t the only people who made me nervous – the audience did too. When I was going to my mark to get ready to sing I was thinking about things like food, and hoping that I didn’t fall down the stairs! However, the experience also taught me that I should just enjoy every moment of performing.”
Faith works for Cancer Research UK, but she aims to perform and write a lot more music in the future.
She said: “My aspirations in life are to make my family proud and to live my life outside the box.
“Aside from singing, I’ve always wanted to become a social worker. At the end of the day, I want to leave this world thinking and knowing that I’ve helped people.”
- You can see if Faith made it through to the next stage of The Voice this Saturday at 7.15pm on BBC One Wales.
