A beat boxer from Haggerston has been chosen by his mentor Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am to go through to the live finals of the The Voice this Saturday.

Brian Bennett, aka Lyrickal, came up against eight other singers on the BBC talent show last Sunday, when he performed Emeli Sande’s Read All About It, and is now one of 12 singers through to the quarter-final with Lydia Lucy and Lauren Lapsley-Browne who are also on ‘Team Will’.

The 46-year old who has lived in Kingsland Road, Hoxton, all his life, said: “There’s a lot more pressure, I was nervous before but when you know that everything is going out live at the same time, it just makes you more aware of the whole TV process.

“In the previous rounds I was able to focus on the actual performance in the room, there’s a big audience to focus on and you can hear their reactions and response when they are cheering you on, but when it’s an actual live round and once they say go everything is going to play out the way it plays out, you are much more aware and you know that this is TV, it’s going out Saturday night to millions of viewers on the BBC.”

Brian will not divulge which song he is going to sing, but has revealed it’s a “change in style and feel”, which he hopes will surprise viewers at home.

He said: “I made another decision where I’m trying to be original and pick personal songs that show more about me as an artist, I’m aware people can look at me and thing he’s a rapper and does beat box so he’ll be into the up tempo funky songs, but I’m glad to be making this progression where I’m a singer, I’m not just a novelty doing all these other tricks.

“I have these other skills as well but I’m definitely a singer and I’m here to sing.”