A Kent man is set to appear on ITV's The Voice tonight.

Andrew Bateup, who grew up in Tunbridge Wells, will appear before the judges tonight, after several attempts to make it onto the singing show.

The former Skinners School pupil, said: "I’ve actually applied for The Voice a few times over the last 10 years but never managed to get all the way onto the blind auditions.

"Out of all the reality singing programmes, I always felt that maybe one day I might get a chance to audition for The Voice and it turned out this year was the one. I’ve always dreamt of performing as a solo artist and releasing my own albums so The Voice offers the perfect platform to try and do that."

Andrew went into the world of musical theatre after leaving college and performed on the UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for three years and also toured the US in the Choir Of Man.

More recently, he's been teaching singing at a girls' school in South West London and gigging on the side at weddings as a singing waiter.

He said: "We actually did some filming at the Skinners School in my old music department prior to the blind audition being aired.

"It has been an absolute whirlwind being on The Voice. We actually filmed the blind audition back in October so it’s been a very long wait. Not being able to tell people has been a real challenge."

He added: "I think my family have been more excited than I have! Unfortunately Covid meant that I couldn’t invite any of my family into the studio but they all managed to watch live virtually. It was very special to know they were all there with me, even if it was on a screen.

"In all seriousness, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything musically without the encouragement and support of my parents."

Find out how he got on on ITV tonight at 8.30pm and hear him chatting to Garry and Laura on kmfm Breakfast here:

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