Stevie McCrorie is the bookmakers’ favourite to win The Voice, ahead of Sheena McHugh and Nigerian music student Emmanuel Nwamadi, who are backed in second and third place respectively.
Stevie McCrorie with coach Ricky Wilson (Guy Levy/BBC/Wall To Wall)
The Scottish firefighter says getting through to the show’s final would be a “dream come true”.
“It’s amazing to have gotten this far. It’s more than I predicted. But it does put more pressure on me, knowing there are expectations,” he said ahead of the show’s semi-final tonight.
“To be the bookies’ favourite from the word go, to have such a massive following and to be here, it’s just crazy. It doesn’t feel real still.”
Stevie, who is part of Ricky Wilson’s team, is amongst the singers who will fight it out to make it to the live final on 4 April, alongside Emmanuel, Sheena, Lucy O’Byrne, Vikesh Champaneri, Joe Woolford, Karis Thomas and Sasha Simone.
His firefighting colleagues entered him for the show. A part-time singer, the 30-year-old has already performed at T In The Park and supported The Barenaked Ladies at the O2 Academy in Glasgow.
“The dream would be seeing what happens after the show, and whether I could make a career as an artist. Becoming a music artist, that’s the dream for me,” he said.
“If I can make a living from singing and provide for my family, [giving up firefighting] is something I would do. I’m hoping being on a national TV show will make my dream of being a singer come true. I think I’m a better singer than a firefighter!”
Stevie added: “I’ve wanted to be a singer since I was 14. I used to watch bands and think, ‘That’s what I want to be’. I tried to break through and played festivals, but it never took off. Maybe I didn’t work hard enough, but hopefully now is the right time for me.”
Sheena McHugh (Guy Levy/BBC/Wall To Wall)
Sheena, 26, plans to wow the public with another big song on tonight’s show, following her performance of Glow and Princess Of China at the quarter-finals.
“I’ve changed the track quite a bit, so it’s given me some extra work to do. But I want to push myself at this stage in the competition and I want to impress,” she said.
“This week’s performance will be visual as well as vocal. It’s a big song… It takes me back to good times, carefree times. A lot of people are singing ballads this week so I wanted to do something different.”
The Coalville-born singer, who is on Will.i.am’s team, has been through challenging times after breaking her back, rupturing her spleen and perforating her bowel in a car accident in 2010.
“It is difficult to watch it back, but I’m not a sob story. The experience has made me who I am today,” she explained.
“I want people to see that I am passionate and real, and I sing from the heart.”
The semi-final of The Voice is on BBC1 tonight at 7.00pm.
