Father and daughter Geno and Hayley Eccles both audition for The Voice
Hear more music from both of them here...
It was something of a family affair on The Voice UK this week, as a father auditioned on the ITV talent show, closely followed by his daughter, while her mum and three sisters waited in the wings cheering them on.
Geno Eccles, 54, from Lancashire, performed a very respectable version of You Are So Beautiful but didn’t quite manage to get the coaches to turn, much to the despair of the rest of the Eccles family.
But that only made 22 year old Hayley – number four of his five daughters – more determined to get their attention.
“When nobody turned for my dad it flipped into more motivation,” said Hayley. “I was, like, ‘Right, if you ain’t turning for him you’re gonna turn for me!’.”
And she got her wish. In the final seconds of her rendition of Paloma Faith’s Upside Down, will.i.am hit his button, telling her “I think you have a spectacular voice – like, really beyond…”
The family were suitably ecstatic, with Geno saying afterwards "I’ve forgotten about me. I’m just so proud of this young girl."
So what else can we tell you about Geno and Hayley? Well, The Voice gave us some background on each of them, and we’ve done a bit of digging ourselves. Here’s what we found out…
Thirty-three years ago, Geno was in a funk-soul band who were offered a record deal by Rod Stewart’s manager, but he turned it down as his first daughter had just been born. That’s getting your priorities right.
These days, our research reveals, Geno goes by the stage name of Papa G (which is rather appropriate given that he is the proud father of five daughters, not to mention a dog called Fifi) and is a manager at an independent music label called Triangle House Records.
Here he is performing an original song called An Ode To You…
Hayley’s day job is as a cleaner. “It’s not the most glamorous job, not everbody wants to scrub toilets and clean up after other people, but I don’t mind it. Obviously it’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life… “
In her spare time, of course, she sings and in fact is one of the artists on Geno's record label, going under the name of HYLY. It's unclear whether she’s released any music but here she is with covers of Rihanna's Stay...
...and Melody Gardot's Baby I'm a Fool...
You can see and hear more of Hayley when The Voice reaches the Battle rounds.
The Voice continues on Saturdays at 8pm on ITV
