Danny O'Donoghue Defends Tom Jones Over The Voice Criticism

Singer Danny O'Donoghue has leaped to the defence of his The Voice co-star Sir Tom Jones after he was criticised for losing touch with his winning contestant on the U.K. reality show.

The Welsh star coached Leanne Mitchell to victory on the singing contest last year (12), helping her beat three other finalists to land a recording contract.

But her debut album flopped, selling less than 1,000 copies, and Sir Tom came under fire after Mitchell recently revealed she hadn't heard from him since The Voice wrapped.

However, fellow coach O'Donoghue has hit out at the fledgling singer, suggesting that Mitchell herself is to blame for her poor album sales.

He tells Britain's The Sun, "That's not my fault, that's not the show's fault, that's not the Bbc's fault, that's just her fault. You can take an artist like that and question their work ethic.

"I was told by Tom Jones, and by the label as well, that Leanne just did not want to work as hard as you have to work to be a pop star. She wanted to come on a show and win a singing contest. That's good for her, because she won the show. But it's not good for the premise of the show."

Source: Dublin Weekender / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Tom Jones bows out of The Voice 2013 for Oscar rehearsals

The Voice bosses have had quite a few absences to work around over the last few weeks, as two of their judges bowed out of audition and knockout recording sessions. 

We reported last week that Danny O’Donoghue missed a few days of filming, after falling ill and today it’s been confirmed that Tom Jones is also taking himself out of the country this week, so that he could travel to LA.

 The ‘Kiss’ hitmaker has committed to attend rehearsals for The Oscars, after being asked to perform at Sunday’s ceremony as part of a celebration of James Bond’s 50th anniversary.

The Sun reports that his Oscar commitments mean that Tom will miss the filming of some of the knockout rounds that are to be filmed this week. 

The knockout rounds have been poached from the US version of the show and added to the format, to lengthen the tryout rounds and cut down the number of live shows, which did not fare well in ratings last year..

Danny revealed last week that he was feeling a lot better and would soon be heading back to work and he tweeted:

“Thank you everybody for the support!! I’m on the mend now should be back in action by the weekend D) Danny”

 He added yesterday: 

“What a beautiful morning!!! On the way to record more of the voice. What’s everyone doing . D x” 

Source: The Sun / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

The Voice 2013 - Launch Date Announced

The Voice 2013 to launch on Easter Saturday with Doctor Who – Battle Rounds being filmed NOW!

We loved the singing competition last year, particularly the earlier stages, so we’re pretty psyched to find out that the second UK series of the show will be starting on BBC One over the Easter weekend.

It’s been confirmed that Will.i.am, Jessie J, Tom Jones and Danny O’Donoghue will all be back in their big red spinny chair thingies on Saturday 30th March, the same night that Doctor Who returns to our screens. We predict that the Beeb will dominate the ratings that night.

The series will of course start with the blind auditions, which will see the four coaches (coaches not judges remember?) sitting with their back to the stage, as singers try out for them nervously. The coaches only turn around to face the wannabes if they want them for their team and if more than one coach spins, then the performer gets to choose who they want to work with.

The BBC has tweaked and changed the format a bit this year, after ratings dwindled during the live rounds in 2012.

A source told the Daily Star newspaper: ”There is a lot riding on ‘The Voice’ this year. It needs to succeed to prove its critics wrong.”

Last year The Voice stormed past Britain’s Got Talent in the ratings during it’s early stages, but when the live shows kicked off and it was going head to head with Simon Cowell and the BGT finals, it shed more than half it’s viewers.

Ratings dropped from an astounding 13 million for the first episode to six million during the live shows, so this year there will be just three live rounds (the quarter final, semi final and final) with more time being spent in the battle rounds.

The series will feature five blind audition episodes, followed by five battle rounds in which the Jessie, Tom, Danny and Will will pair their acts and watch as they go head to head in a duet. They can only save one singer per pair.

In a new twist, the celebrities will also be able to save one singer who was axed from one of their rival’s teams to join their own group.

The audition stages were filmed in the BBC’s centre in Salford last month and this weekend the judges will come together once more to work on the brilliant battle rounds. The Voice’s official Facebook page revealed:

We’re filming the Battle Rounds this weekend. There will be fireworks (vocal ones).”

Source: TheVoiceUK / Edited: DannyODonoghue.Net

Day 1 Filming The Voice

A short break in filming.

Twitter: Jessie J