Morley student to appear on BBC’s The Voice

Harris Hameed performed live in front of judges Rita Ora, Sir Tom Jones, Ricky Wilson and Will.i.am having come through several preliminary auditions to reach the televised stage.

Harris first attended a BBC audition in Manchester in July, although he admitted he might not have even got that far had circumstances been different.

He said: “My mentality at first was that if I had to queue for more than an hour then I was just going to go home, because I thought I probably wouldn’t get that far anyway.

“Luckily I wasn’t queueing too long and it all went from there.”

Following successful interviews, Harris made it through to the show itself and says he will never forget the day.

“The day was crazy, there was so much to do. There was a lot of waiting around and then a lot of pre-filming and talking to VTs and things but then I remember going out and performing in front of the judges. When I saw Will.i.am sat on the edge of his seat, my stomach just turned and it all went so quickly. That’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

Talented Harris, who is currently doing his A Levels at Leeds City College, says he was influenced by his musical family from an early age. However, he says he had not even considered going on a talent show until two of his friends who auditioned for The Voice last year recommended the experience to him.

He added: “I’ve never really been into talent shows before - I had quite a narrow-minded approach to them thinking that they were all set up. But when my friends from Leeds went on it they came back and told me I’d love it.”

It certainly seems they were right!

See how Harris got on by tuning into The Voice at 7.15pm on Saturday, BBC One.