The Voice UK: Big break for 27-year-old songwriter after flawless cover of Sting's 'Shape Of My Heart'
25 January 2021, 13:27 | Updated: 25 January 2021, 18:30
James Robb left The Voice judges opened mouthed on Saturday night (January 23) with a beautiful soul rendition of Sting's famous hit 'Shape Of My Heart'
A 27-year-old youngster from Hertfordshire stunned coaches on The Voice this weekend.
James Robb sang a beautiful rendition of Sting's 'Shape Of Your Heart' causing Tom Jones' eyebrows shoot up in amazement during the opening lyrics of the song.
See more: The Voice Kids: Trio sing jaw-dropping rendition of 'Stayin’ Alive' by the Bee Gees
After just a few bars of the 1993 hit, will.i.am then turned to his fellow judges and simply said "wow" as all four sat listening to the young singer's blind audition.
The songwriter from Hertfordshire gave a soulful rendition of the Sting song which saw coach Anne-Marie be the first to turn around and watch him sing, followed by Olly Murs at the end of the performance.
See more: Moment Sting jumped on stage to join overwhelmed singer in rendition of 'Englishman in New York'
Hertfordshire native James' soulful style earned him praise from the four professionals and the up-and-coming star eventually chose Anne-Marie as his mentor to take him through to the next round.
James Robb has been actively performing and writing songs since he was a teenager and released his debut album when he was aged just 20.
See more: The Voice Kids move audience to tears with astonishingly powerful Simon & Garfunkel song - video
The 27-year-old has since garnered a steading following of fans, often uploading videos to his YouTube page and until the 2020 Covid pandemic was regularly playing gigs around the UK, most notably at The Camden Assembly.
James, who currently has just over 3,000 followers on Instagram and 2,300 Youtube subscribers is no doubt set to be thrown into the spotlight since his incredible performance on 2021's The Voice.
See more: What is Sir Tom Jones’ real name? The Voice UK judge makes surprising revelation
Filmed with social distancing measures in place – judges chairs are 8 feet apart with the audience beamed in virtually each week – the 10th series of the show is already on a role.
As well as incredible performances from talented stars around the country, viewers have also been treated to not one, but two heartstopping solos from Sir Tom Jones himself.
The Welsh singing sensation – the most experienced coach on the panel with over 50-years of showbiz know-how under his belt – sang a stunning version of 'Cry To Me' from hit movie Dirty Dancing on week one of the 2021 show.
See more: The Voice Kids: Girl, 12, channels Freddie Mercury with spine-tingling rendition of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'
Without getting up from his chair, the 80-year-old star left his fellow judges open mouthed as he belted out the heartfelt lyrics to Solomon Burke's famous 1961 song as the audience swayed along at home.
James Robb's Shape Of My Heart | Blind Auditions | The Voice UK 2021
Week two of the show saw Sir Tom gave an incredibly tender performance of his song 'With These Hands', but not before explaining to the fellow judges the special relationship he had with the song and Elvis Presley.
See more: Photos of heartthrob Tom Jones through the years at 80: 'The women, the sex… I don’t regret anything'
“Well, I mean Elvis was the one of course, I met him in LA in 1965 with a ballad out called 'With These Hands',” Sir Tom said.
“And he was coming towards me and he was singing ‘With these hands, I will cling to you.’
“I went, ‘If the boys back home could see me now?’ Elvis is singing my song back to me.”
See more: The Voice UK: Tom Jones tears up after watching surprise birthday message from Stevie Wonder
As seen on 2020's Britain's Got Talent, coaches hugging performers is now a thing of the past.
Sir Tom performs 'Cry To Me' by Solomon Burke
2020's series of The Voice Kids version of the show saw a plethora of talented children compete to be crowned the winner, under the increasingly difficult measures of coronavirus and social distancing.
In August, George Elliot, 10, stunned the The Voice Kids judges with a stunning performance of Queen's 'Radio Gaga' in the show's semi-final and 12-year-old Dara sang Whitney Houston's 'I Have Nothing' to a huge reaction from the judges.
See more: QUIZ: How well do you remember Dirty Dancing?
The youngest ever finalist on the show, 7-year-old Victoria Alsina, sang a beautiful rendition of Mariah Carey's 'Hero' but 2020's winner was Justine Afante, 13, who was crowned after singing flawless covers of Whitney Houston's 'One Moment In Time' and Stevie Wonder's 'Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing'.
Tom Jones leaves viewers in tears after singing Elvis Presley's favourite 'With These Hands'
