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The Voice battle round sees Andrew Bateup from Tunbridge Wells take on 'Always' by Bon Jovi

By: Liane Castle lcastle@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 12:00, 27 February 2021

Updated: 18:01, 27 February 2021

A music teacher from Tunbridge Wells who secured a place on Team Olly in ITV's The Voice will fight for his place in the competition in tonight's battle round.

Andrew Bateup first appeared on the show on January 30, when he wowed the judges with his rendition of Michael Bolton's 'How Am I Supposed to Live Without You' in the blind auditions.

Andrew Bateup will battle Matt Croke tonight. Picture: The Voice UK, ITV

The 31-year-old got the support of both Olly Murs and Sir Tom Jones - before opting to be coached by Olly.

Now the competition is stepping up a gear and in tonight's show at 8.30pm, Andrew is hoping to make it through to the semi-finals by competing in a sing-off against fellow team member Matt Croke.

The pair will perform 'Always' by Bon Jovi. Olly will then pick the person he wants to take forward in the competition, the other will be sent home.

mpu1

Andrew, a former pupil at Skinners' School, said: "As soon as I spotted Matt’s name I knew he would be my battle partner. We both performed big ballads for our blind auditions and we have both had careers in musical theatre.

"I was a little nervous at first because I knew that Matt had a sensational voice.

Read more!

Watch Andrew Bateup's blind audition.

"After our first rehearsal it was clear that I needed to step my game up. I had recently seen him perform the role of Aladdin in the West End so I knew I was up against strong competition."

To add to the pressure, a last minute song change was thrown into the mix.

The pair originally practised a version of ‘She’ by Elvis Costello, but both Matt and Andrew felt the song needed to be stronger.

Andrew added: "It didn’t feel like a battle song and we wanted something that was really going to challenge us.

mpu2

"Olly understood where we were coming from and found us the new song. It was out of our comfort zones and we could both add our own flavour to make it unique."

Andrew went into the world of musical theatre after leaving college and performed on the UK tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for three years and also toured the US in the Choir Of Man.

More recently, he's been teaching singing at a girls' school in South West London and gigging on the side at weddings as a singing waiter.

Read more: All the latest news from Tunbridge Wells

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