The Saturdays band member, Frankie Sandford has backed The Voice UK contestant Brett Davison after he didn’t quite make it through to the battle rounds on Saturday. She tweeted that his performance broke her heart.
Read more & comment »

Fans of BBC’s The Voice and ITV’s The X Factor will of course know that there’s a simmering rivalry between the two shows, and now and again, factions from both sides will have a dig at the other…

And while speaking to Yahoo’s OMG, The Voice coach Jessie J has apparently fired off the latest shot across X Factor’s bows by remarking that she believes The Voice is “more credible” than other talent quest shows.

And she added that The Voice doesn’t rely on humiliating wannabes to score ratings… Read more & comment »

It’s been reported today that last year’s X Factor winner James Arthur was rejected by rival talent quest show The Voice, and didn’t even make it past an initial audition with the show’s producers!

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, a show insider said, “James was on The Voice last year but we didn’t put it in the show.

“He didn’t even make it to the judges stage.”

A source close to James remarked, “He went to the first audition but didn’t pursue it. It’s not something he was interested in.” Read more & comment »

Winner of the first series of The Voice UK Leanne Mitchell insists she’s “not bothered” her debut single didn’t storm the charts.

The singer appeared on the show last year and was mentored by Welshman Tom Jones during her time on the programme but her debut single Run To You peaked at number 45 on the chart. Read more & comment »

It would seem that X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos is livid with The Voice coach and rapper Will.i.am for featuring X Factor USA judge Britney Spears on his new single Scream & Shout, because she recorded it first.

The Sun explains, “The N-DUBZ star had recorded the track before Britney got anywhere near it, but when the US singer got in the vocal booth she followed Tulisa’s lead.

“Tulisa co-wrote the original, then called I Don’t Give A F***, with Will.i.am’s right-hand man JEAN BAPTISTE for her debut album, The Female Boss.”

And apparently, some copies of Tulisa’s album were released with the song on them, but were withdrawn after Will “kicked off.” Read more & comment »

As we reported recently, despite rivalry between The X Factor and The Voice, Simon Cowell has been spending a good deal of time with Voice coach Will.i.am who he invited to mentor Britney Spears’ acts on X Factor USA.

It’s also been reported recently that Simon and Will are collaborating on a new talent quest show which would aim to find “the next Bill Gates.”

And today, the Mirror reports that Simon’s wooing of Will has an ulterior motive as the paper claims that the X Factor guru is hoping to “lure” Will away from The Voice to work with him and his X Factor franchise.

It’s also been reported that Simon’s keen to work with Cheryl Cole again – who is of course managed by Will – so he’s seemingly keen on a twofer deal.

A senior X Factor production insider told the paper, “We need to do something dramatic and this would be a coup… Read more & comment »

Considering The X Factor and The Voice – both UK and US – have battled each other for viewers and bitched about each other frequently over the last year or so, Simon Cowell and Will.i.am are evidently determined to rise above the bickering…

Simon of course recently invited Will – who is a coach on The Voice UK – to help X Factor USA judge Britney Spears to decide which of her acts to put through to the live rounds, and now it’s been revealed that Simon and Will are to collaborate on a whole new show!

TV Biz reports that Simon and Will – oo can we call them Siam or maybe Willsi? How about my personal fave, Iamacow? – want to find “the next Bill Gates” via a talent quest show that’s based on technology.

The paper adds, “The two showbiz giants hammered out the scheme over a hush-hush dinner in Los Angeles last month.” Read more & comment »

The Voice UK coach Jessie J’s autobiography is so new, the ink might still be wet, but already it contains errors in as much as while she was writing it, Jessie revealed that she’d turned down a second run as coach on the show because it clashed with her live performance schedule…

However, following negotiations with the BBC – after her book went to print – Jessie managed to persuade The Voice bosses to reschedule next year’s shows in order that she could return once her tour is over.

Jessie makes that revelation during her appearance on tonight’s edition of Alan Carr: Chatty Man, saying, “I was really gutted so I called the head of the BBC and said, ‘Can we talk about this?

“I don’t feel right I am the only one not doing it’.

“So I sat with them and we looked at the dates. We jigged things around and I was then able to do it.”

On the Channel 4 show at 10pm, Jessie will also confirm that fellow coaches Will.i.am, Tom Jones and Danny O’Donoghue are also be returning to The Voice for its second run… Read more & comment »

Fans of The Voice UK coach and pop star Jessie J may know that her autobiography, Nice To Meet You – which is available for pre-order now – goes on sale on September 27th and in it, Jessie writes candidly about the heart condition that nearly killed her as a child, and about how the effects of it caused her to be bullied mercilessly at school.

Revealing also that hit singer Adele went to the same school she did – wonder if they put talent supplements into the dinners – Jessie added that she and Adele would often sit together to eat lunch…

However, in today’s Daily Mail, which is serializing the book, Jessie revealed how she was first diagnosed with a potentially deadly heart condition that of course still affects her today.

She wrote, “I’ve never liked being kept in the dark when it comes to health. If I’m going to get sick, tell me. If someone’s ill, tell me.

“If my results are not normal, tell me; ever since I was young I have liked to know what is going on, so I can prepare and be strong to deal with it… Read more & comment »

Despite the rivalry between The X Factor and The Voice UK,  coach Will.i.am has – as we reported last week – been assisting X Factor USA judge Britney Spears to choose which acts she’ll take forward to the show’s live rounds…

And it seems that while he was in the States with Britney, he asked her if she would duet with former judge Cheryl Cole on a track he’s written for that purpose.

A show insider told TV Biz, “There were rumours earlier this summer that the pair were going to duet…

“But it wasn’t until this week that Britney and Will had the discussion.

“He’s been trying to get them together since before he came on board as Cheryl’s manager.

“He told Britney he was writing a great new track and wanted his ‘two favourite girls’ to record it together at his home studio.” Read more & comment »