Where are The Voice UK winners and runners-up now? From firefighter and theatre star to wannabe PM
THEY beat strong competition to make it through the ruthless auditions, before singing their way to the final of The Voice.
But while some past winners and runners-up of the UK show continued to pursue music, others have chosen very different paths since their time on the contest.
Leanne Mitchell – 2012 winner
Last night judges will.i.am, Tom Jones, Olly Murs and Anne-Marie watched a new batch of hopefuls sing their hearts out for a chance at stardom.
Leanne Mitchell became the first ever winner of The Voice but, while she wowed viewers and the judges at the time, she didn’t remain in the spotlight for long.
Mentored by Tom Jones, Leanne, now 38, beat Bo Bruce in the final but her self-titled debut record failed to make it into the Top 100 and she was dropped by her label.
She has since married and welcomed a son, Leo, and she is said to have started performing at parties after her win.
It was also previously claimed she’d returned to her job as a holiday camp singer, and has been performing on cruise ships this summer.
Leanne took to her official Facebook page to share a video she’d recorded with several other singers for Christmas in 2020, proving she still has a huge passion for music.
Bo Bruce – 2012 runner-up
She may have missed out on the crown in the first ever series, but aristocrat Bo Bruce made an impression all the same.
Coached by Danny O’Donoghue, she made it right to the final – before being signed to Mercury Records.
Bo’s debut album, Before I Sleep, made the Top 10 in 2013, but it was her bond with producer-musician Henry Binns – who she collaborated with on the album – that was to last the longest, as they went on to get married.
The couple, who have two children, went on to form double act Ecuador together, and continue to record music today.
Bo has completely changed her look since The Voice too, growing her hair out and opting for more natural make-up.
In February she beat her viscount brother Thomas in a £2million battle over their late mother’s will 10 years after she died.
Andrea Begley – 2013 winner
Andrea Begley became the second winner of The Voice when she beat show favourite at the time, Leah McFall, and Mike Ward in the final.
She was mentored by Danny O’Donogue in the competition, but immediately faced criticism from will.i.am following her win when he openly slammed the public’s decision and insisted his act Leah should have won.
Andrea’s debut single peaked at number 30 but her follow-up track failed to crack the top 100. Her album The Message, however, charted at number 7.
The singer, 35, who is partially sighted as a result of glaucoma as a child, has continued her activism work and is a motivational speaker, delivering talks on her own experiences of sight loss, while she also regularly shares videos of her singing on Instagram.
She recently paid tribute to Darius Danesh following his sad death.
Leah McFall – 2013 runner-up
Runner-up in 2013 was Leah McFall, who had viewers behind her from the start.
And she’s continued in music ever since, with the help of mentor will.i.am, who recorded a version of Bang Bang with her and also performed with her at Wireless the same year.
She was later dropped from her record label, but has continued to release singles over the last few years.
Like Bo, she’s opted for a very different look now and her latest snaps show her with bright blonde hair.
Now 33, she recently welcomed a baby boy with her husband Nathan.
Jermain Jackman – 2014 winner
Jermain Jackman was poised to be The Voice’s first breakout star when he became the third winner of the show, beating Christina Marie and Sally Barker.
He became will.i.am’s first act to win the series but his first single, And I Am Telling You, only reached number 75 in the charts.
In 2014, he stepped away from the music industry to continue with his studies in politics, having spoken about his desire to be Prime Minister while on the show.
In recent years, Jermaine, 27, has run for the Labour Party NEC, initially with the aim of being elected as Youth Representative before switching to Constituency Labour Party (CLP) Representative. He narrowly missed out in the results.
Despite this, on Instagram the singing hopeful still describes himself as a “singer/songwriter” and performed in the lineup for Labour Live 2018 – the party’s summer festival.
He recently quit the race to be Labour’s ‘BAME’ representative.
Stevie McCrorie – 2015 winner
Scottish singer Stevie McCrorie managed to get a number 6 hit with his cover of Adam Levine’s Lost Stars, after he beat Lucy O’Byrne in the final of series four.
He was mentored by Ricky Wilson and the Scottish singer was quickly snapped up by music label, Decca.
However, less than a year after Stevie, 37, won The Voice, he was back in his old job, calling time on his music career to go back to work as a fireman.
The following year, he released an album titled Big World, which reached number 35 in the Digital Downloads Chart.
Stevie is married to wife Amy and they have two daughters, Bibi and Sunny.
He shared a photo last year posing in front of a fire engine, and wrote: “Hope to be back gigging this time next year entertaining people, cuddling/singing and loving life.”
Lucy O’Byrne – 2015 runner-up
While many winners have struggled to achieve musical success since The Voice, 2015 runner-up Lucy Byrne credits the show with helping her launch a career in theatre.
She’s landed lead roles in musicals like The Sound of Music and Les Mis, and appears to have remained busy on stage right across the country since the show.
The flame-haired beauty, 31, often shares photos of her performances on Instagram, and is known to cuddle up with her pet dogs at home in between shows.
Kevin Simm – 2016 winner
Kevin Simm, 41, was no stranger to the limelight when he went on the show in 2016, having already achieved fame as part of Liberty X.
And Ricky Wilson’s contestant proved a natural, as he won the show, beating Jolan in the last ever series to be broadcast on the BBC.
No, unfortunately I missed the season where they go on to support you afterwards
— Kevin Simm (@kevinsimm) March 24, 2017x https://t.co/dAPsfTgQm0
His winner’s single, All You Good Friends, eventually peaked at number 24 in the charts, but his first solo album failed to reach the Top 40 in the UK Album Chart.
He has been very vocal about the talent show since, and launched another attack on it for “not supporting” him after they snubbed him for a reappearance in the final in 2017.
A year later, the father-of-two revealed he’d undergone a hair transplant after struggling with insecurities over it.
“There’s a real stigma around hair loss and other men in particular make fun of it. Women don’t seem to mind but around men it is an issue,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “It needs to be less of a stigma.”
Kevin went on to become the frontman for the Wet Wet Wet supergroup in 2018, replacing Marti Pellow.
They performed at a number of festivals this summer.
Mo Adeniran – 2017 winner
Mo Adeniran was led to success by US singer Jennifer Hudson, who also became the first female coach to win in 2017.
The 26-year-old singer worked night shifts in a hotel before joining The Voice and said he was once asked to deliver room service to a man who had tied his wife up in a kinky sex game.
He released Globetrotter as a digital download under the performer name Mo Jamil in April 2017, although it largely flew under the radar.
Mo’s single, Unsteady, failed to make much of an impression in the UK but had modest success in Japan.
He returned to the show in 2018 as a guest mentor for Team Jennifer, and released his debut studio album, Evolve, the same year – which peaked at 36 in the charts.
Mo revealed last year that he was back in the studio, “working on some new vibes”.
Ruti Olajugbagbe – 2018 winner
Ruti Olajugbagbe became the shock winner of the 2018 show when she beat bookies favourite Donel Mangena.
The 22-year-old singer, who was a student and part-time carer at the time, was mentored by Tom Jones and signed a recording deal with Polydor records after her success.
Her debut single Dreams reached number 1 on the UK iTunes Store, and debuted at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.
Ruti released her debut EP Racing Cars in 2019 and returned to the final of the eighth series of The Voice to perform the lead single. She was later dropped by her label.
The singer now looks completely different on social media, after showing off her bright green cropped hair in a string of photos – with fans rushing to share their love of her stylish new look.
She’s continued performing, and recently released her latest single, My Sunshine.
Molly Hocking – 2019 winner
Molly Hocking was crowned the winner of The Voice in 2019, beating out stiff competition from the likes of Jimmy Balito, Bethzienna Williams, and Deana during the live final.
Her win also saw coach Olly Murs triumph over fellow superstars Jennifer Hudson, will.i.am and Sir Tom Jones.
Molly, 21 – who had previously progressed to the bootcamp stage of the X Factor in 2017 – failed to make the big time, however, when her first single release only reached number 73 in the UK charts.
Covid has put her dreams of releasing more on hold, and she opened up about battling with depression during the pandemic, but she’s continued recording and streaming her music from home.
Molly has also been very open about her battles with anxiety and an eating disorder in the past, and said last year: “I was a happy child, I had the best childhood I could have asked for, so why did I get ill? I’ve asked that question so many times but can’t answer it still.”
She went on to detail how she was admitted into hospital when she struggled with anxiety, before struggling with an eating disorder amid her exams.
The singer then encouraged her followers to speak out and share their stories too.
Blessing Chitapa – 2020 winner
The latest series saw Blessing Chitapa triumph over Jonny Brooks in the final two, to be crowned Voice 2020 champion.
Most read in TV
She was voted as the winner during the virtual audience vote – a first for the popular BBC One talent show.
Blessing secured a recording contract with Universal’s label UMOD and her winner’s single, a cover of Angels by Robbie Williams, reached number 50 in the UK charts.
She announced she’d been busy recording new music this week and has also signed with Island Records.
Craig Eddie – 2021 winner
Winning Coach Anne-Marie mentored Craig Eddie, 23 years old from Falkirk in Scotland to win the coveted prize of the winner of The Voice UK 2021, along with a recording contract with Polydor.
Anne-Marie earned her very first crown in her very first season as a Coach on The Voice UK.
Craig, who worked in an Asda warehouse and at Greggs before the show, made it to Number 6 in ghe UK charts with his song Come Waste My Time.
It was the best-performing self-written winner’s single.
In February this year, Craig got a tattoo on his face, a semi-colon beside his left eyebrow.
He explained: “Semi-colon. Where the author could have ended their sentence but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.”