Ricky Wilson and Kevin Simm have bonded over their shared battle with stage fright.

Ricky Wilson

Ricky Wilson

The former Liberty X star believes he's hit it off with his 'Voice' coach because they both openly admit they get riddled with nerves before they perform in front of an audience.

Speaking on the red carpet of the show's Open Mic night on Wednesday (23.03.16), Kevin said: "I think what's unique about Ricky - which is hard to say about anyone else - is he admits he gets nervous. And when you suffer from nerves I think someone, especially your coach saying that's the way he feels when he does things sometimes, brings him down so you can relate to him more. It's awesome being on Team Ricky - he's great fun. He's a down to earth guy and he's exactly like what you see on the television - just being around him is fun."

The 35-year-old singer auditioned for the BBC One programme in the hope that he'll get another crack at stardom following the split of his band 2008 and, after impressing the mentors during the blind rounds, he's now through to this year's live shows.

Kevin - who joins Chloe Castro and Jolan on Team Ricky - will go up against rival contestants Lydia Lucy, Lyrickal and Lauren Lapsley-Browne, Beth Morris, Jordan Gray and Heather Cameron-Hayes, Harry Fisher, Vangelis and Cody Frost but knows he already has his old bandmates rooting for him.

He said: "They're being really supportive. We've been friends for a long, long time now - for the majority of my adult life - so it's nice to have them in my corner."

Although when it comes to watching him perform, he quipped: "But at the same time, they never came to watch me when I was doing the pubs and stuff ... I'm joking."

The Voice Live quarter finals are on tomorrow night (26.3.16) followed by the Live Semi Finals on Saturday, April 2, and the Live Finals on Saturday, April 9 on BBC One at 7pm.

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