The Voice 2015 final: Everything you need to know
Ben Dowell profiles the four finalists - Lucy O'Byrne, Sasha Simone, Emmanuel Nwamadi and Stevie McCrorie - and explains how the night will unfold
The Voice 2015 final is upon us.
From the thousands of hopefuls just four are left in the competition – Lucy O'Byrne, Sasha Simone, Emmanuel Nwamadi and Stevie McCrorie.
The lines will open just after they perform their solo songs in tonight's show.
Then you will get to see them sing duets with the coaches, with special guest spots from Paloma Faith and former coach Danny O'Donoghue's The Script along the way.
After that, the votes are frozen, the two acts with the lowest votes go home and the remaining two perform their best song of the series... before the winner is announced.
The Voice UK 2015 champion then performs the single which will go on sale at midnight – the first time this has happened on the show, and perhaps a hint that it is becoming slightly more commercially savvy like it's ITV counterpart The X Factor.
The chosen track is Lost Stars, originally performed by American singer, actor and The Voice US coach, Adam Levine (from Maroon 5), and written by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood.
Four different versions of the track will be recorded in the lead up to the final, by all four finalists. Each version will be specially arranged to suit their individual voices and styles, allowing them (so we are told) to stamp their personality onto it and make it their own. But only one of these four recordings will ever be heard by the public, when it is released the night the winner is announced.
Got that?
So who do you think will win?
You can vote in our poll below. But before you do here's a reminder of who's who in tonight's showdown...
Team will.i.am – Lucy O'Byrne
24, DUBLIN, LIVES IN LONDON
Twitter: @LucyOByrne1
- Lucy is the first-ever operatic finalist on The Voice UK.
- She has been working as an usher at London's Apollo Theatre.
- She says that it's frustrating to watch the ‘Wicked’ cast members from the sidelines. She knows the entire musical off by heart.
- She comes from a family of performers: her dad's a jazz singer, her mum was a choreographer, and her sister is an actress. Her family is really supportive but her gran is her biggest fan.
- Lucy can speak Irish and can sing in Italian, French, German, Russian and Spanish.
will.i.am on Lucy
“She takes my breath away. Every time I get the pleasure of hearing Lucy sing, I feel like a kid at Disneyland”
Team Tom – Sasha Simone
26, BIRMINGHAM
Twitter: @sashasimonee
- Sasha is a trainee student in brick-laying and plastering.
- She belongs to a roller derby team. Her nickname is ‘Black Widow’.
- For the last five years Sasha has mostly sung in the shower or behind closed doors.
- Sasha’s family applied for The Voice UK on her behalf.
Sir Tom on Sasha
“I picked Sasha because she rang true to me. She gets very emotional when she sings, so much so that she cries”
Team Ricky – Emmanuel Nwamadi
24, HARROW, LONDON
Twitter: @EmmanuelandRose
- 23-year-old Nigerian Emmanuel is currently studying at University of Westminster.
- He also works in the University library.
- Emmanuel shocked the coaches in his blind auditions because of his very deep speaking voice.
- He first got into music after playing on his Super Nintendo Video Game Console as a child. He loved the music so much that it inspired him to start singing and listening to bands like Nirvana.
- Emmanuel has named his guitar Rose and describes it as his wife.
Ricky on Emmanuel
“I think Emmanuel’s got something interesting and unique. He’s a man of few words and he's a man of very deep words when he does speak. I think he could sing pretty much anything and put his own twist on it.”
Team Ricky – Stevie McCrorie
29, ALVA, CLACKMANNANSHIRE, SCOTLAND
Twitter: @steviemccrorie
- Stevie is a firefighter from Scotland.
- His colleagues in the fire station applied for the show on his behalf without telling him.
- He has a two-year-old daughter called Bibi who he credits with giving him the courage to be on The Voice UK.
- He has lyrics from his own song tattooed on his arm: "I hope I’m not too old before I figure it out."
Ricky on Stevie
“There's something magical about Stevie. He ticks a lot of boxes – he’s a fireman, he's Scottish, he's just got married and he's got a little baby. He brings tenderness to everything he sings. He's got this great rock voice but with this tinge of tenderness and folksiness to it”