Express & Star

Oldbury's Priscilla Cameron has found her Voice - unsigned column

At the time of writing, 158,500 people have watched the video of Oldbury's Priscilla Cameron in the blind audition round of The Voice, and she didn't even get through.

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Oldbury singer Priscilla Cameron

The 31-year-old mother-of-two, who now lives in Birmingham, appeared on the hit talent show last Saturday performing Lizzo's Juice for the judges - Sir Tom Jones, Will.i.am, Olly Murs and Meghan Trainor. And while all seemed impressed by her performance, some even joining in sat in their chairs, none took the plunge and pressed the button to turn round and coach her moving forward.

But Cameron isn't too upset. "It was amazing exposure to appear on prime-time TV," she tells The Star while sat at home working on her laptop with her two-year-old son Eli providing backing vocals.

In fact, her phone and emails have barely stopped pinging since.

The artwork for Priscilla Cameron's single Version Of Events

"I am so grateful. The producers were amazing, really believed in my talent and couldn't have done any more for all of us. And to be honest the 'no turn' acts barely get aired so I was so lucky. It's obviously not the outcome I would have wanted, but I got aired so the exposure is great."

The Oldbury native had a blast on the show, particularly as she got to share the day with her parents and children - 12-year-old Niah was also there - to continue a long musical journey that started by watching Mum and Dad play as a youngster.

"My parents were in a Wolverhampton band called UNIT 4, Mum was the singer and Dad played guitar," she adds. "I used to go to rehearsals and watch.

"Around six I used to mimic my Mum. I was obsessed with her vocal warm-ups. She used to have this tape with them all on and she'd put it on and do them in the mirror before performing. I'd stand next to her and although I was too short to see myself in the mirror I'd pretend I could.

"I'd copy her and after a while she realised I could pitch everything well. By the age of 10 I was performing with the band on backing vocals. Mum didn't ease me in. She gave me Aretha Franklin's Respect as my first song.

"Dad also worked at the big BMG vinyl warehouse in West Bromwich and Mum worked there for a while too so there was always music coming home and some of the stars would come in and talk to the staff too and they'd bring signed pictures home for me.

"So to have them there, and my aunty too, was amazing. They absolutely loved it and were dancing along, although Mum didn't want to go on camera so wasn't shown. Niah was distraught I didn't get through but Eli loved it and hasn't stopped watching it since. He loves watching himself in the big ear defenders they gave him and keeps pointing and saying 'my headphones'."

The diary is starting to fill up now for the former Holyhead School in Handsworth pupil. She might be performing as soon as this weekend, but things are being thrown at her so quickly when we speak those haven't been confirmed yet.

WATCH: Oldbury's Priscilla Cameron's blind audition on The Voice UK:

One that has, though, is performing as part of a Black Beauty Brunch event for International Women's Day - March 8 - at Blossoms in Wolverhampton. Running from 3pm to 9pm, Cameron will be providing some of the musical entertainment as guests enjoy their food and drinks.

"I'll wait for it to fill up a bit and chill out and then get up and provide some of the juice," she says.

Of course, that's the name of the Lizzo song she performed on The Voice, somebody she looks up to for "shaking it" on the stage as a larger size artist.

"I'm a big girl and that can be a problem in the industry," she continues. "Everyone comes in different shapes and sizes and she gives us empowerment.

"We're not all a size six and she paved the way for us. Nobody should be ashamed and everyone should feel happy about themselves. Lizzo is saying in that song 'I know I'm cute'. And yeah, I know I'm cute too and admire her view. I want people to see me and think 'wow, she's got kids at home and here she is up on The Voice'. There she is shaking it too."

She finds inspiration locally, too. Working as a vocal coach - although less since Eli was born - she has helped tutor plenty around the scene to improve their voice and range.

One is Henry Richards from Brewood and Penkridge indie rockers Nova Bloom, themselves a former The Star Unsigned featured act. She loves what they do as a band, and has been working on a new song with them which is due for release later this year.

"Their new music is sounding awesome by the way," she adds. "I have been working on Henry's voice with him and doing some co-writing. One of those is called Goodbye, which is a beautiful song. I can't give a date on that one coming out or anything but it's been great supporting him, giving him tips and growing his voice."

But she can give us a date on another release - her new single Version Of Events, which comes out on Valentine's Day.

Oldbury singer Priscilla Cameron

"Valentine's Day isn't always lovey dovey for everybody and this song is more about heartbreak to give them solace. It's about a genuine break-up I went through and it's kind of me giving my version of the story to everyone of what happened and what I went through. As a songwriter what you are going through generally influences your writing.

"It will be available on all the usual digital outlets and the video will follow a week later on my YouTube. I've then got one more song to go and my new EP will be ready to release.

"I won't stop after not getting through on The Voice. It won't discourage me and sometimes people just don't go through on these things as judges' minds and feelings change and they're looking for something different. I will take the good from it and I'm proud to get that far. Some 30-to-40,000 enter and I was one of the 100 to go in front of the judges."

Priscilla Cameron's Version Of Events is available to pre-order from iTunes right now and will be available on all other difgital outlets upon release. The music video will follow on her YouTube channel, while her audition can be watched now on The Voice's channel. For updates on her live shows and the EP release date, follow her on Twitter @Priscilla_Singa and Instagram @priscillacameron_