She's far less experienced than Tom Jones and Will.iam. But the night belonged to Jessie J as The Voice got underway. The Price Tag singer is clearly the girl of the moment. Producers of the BBC's answer to X Factor picked her as a judge because she's "a massive young star with a strong personality". Her Brit Award and multiple MOBO wins are further proof of her appeal.
So it's no surprise the sleek-haired singer had contestants queuing up to work with her on the talent search.
The show's format has judges competing against each other to persuade hopefuls to join their team. And not even Sir Tom and Will.i.am's shameless name dropping could win the day. "Did I ever tell you about the time I went over to Elvis' house?" the Welsh crooner asked.
Will.i.am came back with: "There was one time I was living in Ireland with Michael Jackson and we were recording", much to his fellow panellists' annoyance. "I can’t compete with this. I met Justin Bieber once. Wooo!" said Jessie. The Londoner needn't have worried, though – she didn't have to boast about star connections to help her bag three contestants on Saturday night. After kicking off the series with a high energy performance of Black Eyed Peas hit I Gotta Feeling with the other judges – including Danny O'Donoghue – Jessie joined the others in taking their seats facing away from the stage. The panel was only allowed to see the contestant once they'd pressed a button saying they wanted to work with them. The first to audition was 17-year-old Jessica Hammond from Belfast who performed Jessie's single Price Tag. All four judges hit their buttons to show they wanted her, but she chose to go with her musical heroine.
Former boyband star Sean Conlon was not so lucky. He was previously a member of 5ive but failed to impress with his rendition of Coldplay's Trouble.Jessie, 23, snapped up another team member when 34-year-old Toni Warne, from Great Yarmouth, who suffers from alopecia, also chose to go with her. All four stars battled to snap up YouTube sensation Ben Kelly from Derry in Northern Ireland, who impressed them with his animated performance of Rocket Man by Elton John.
On choosing Jessie, Ben said: "The boys are great but I think this girl is for me." However, it was final performer J Marie Cooper, 27, who brought down the house with all four panellists competing to mentor her after she sang Mama Knows Best by Jessie. J Marie decided to team up with Will.i.am because he was the first to to say he wanted to work with her.
