Becky Hill's rise: TV talent show to dance vocal queen

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Becky Hill
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Becky Hill is the first contestant from The Voice to have a number one in the Official Singles Chart

It probably went under the radar but, after three years, The Voice finally got its first number one single.

Becky Hill, a semi-finalist from the first series, topped the Official Singles Chart in June with Gecko.

The 20-year-old from Worcestershire has steadily built up a reputation as one of the go-to women for dance singles.

After featuring on their debut album, she toured with Rudimental and featured on their song Powerless.

More recently, she had a top 10 hit with Wilkinson on his track Afterglow, before finally hitting the top with Gecko, a collaboration with DJ Oliver Heldens.

Chatting to Newsbeat, Hill revealed that she wrote the vocal for Gecko in "five minutes" and, perhaps more surprisingly, still hasn't actually met Heldens.

"The label said it was instant smash," she jokes. "I happened to be in the studio with MNEK, we wrote the instrumental and ours was chosen very quickly."

Becky HillImage source, PA

Back to 2012 and Hill was working in a bar before applying for The Voice, then known as the BBC's much-hyped TV talent show and rival to The X Factor.

She was picked to be on Jessie J's team and made it to the penultimate week of the competition.

"My experience on the show was amazing," she says. "I never went to uni so it was like my university.

"But once you're off the show, you're off. You have to be savvy otherwise you're back to square one.

"If I wasn't switched on at the time, and I don't know how I was, I'd be back working behind the bar.

"If you stick at something it eventually pays off. Keep on working as hard as you can and eventually it does pay off. I had a great time.

"The only reason I wasn't left on my own is because I had some friends from the battle rounds who told me what happened to them.

"You have to be clever and it really sank in. I didn't get signed until 18 months after The Voice."

Becky Hill on the Voice

Hill says MNEK is her "best friend" and the person who's helped her most since coming off the show.

He contacted her after appearing on the Voice and she calls him her "rock" in the industry.

The singer and producer, whose real name is Uzo Emenike, has produced a lot of her solo material.

"I want him to be my boyfriend but he's having none of it."

MNEK

After three dance collaborations, Hill's now ready to release her solo material.

"We're releasing a set-up single for fans before my first proper single going to radio in September," she says. "It's sorted, mixed down and mastered. Hopefully they'll be an album in the first half of next year."

Even though he has produced most of her album, there's still no sign of a duet with MNEK.

"I'll try and grind him down for album two," Hill admits.

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