He’s had to keep it a secret from his friends and colleagues since last year, but this Saturday night the secret will finally be out of the bag when Watford singer Otty Warmann appears on the nation’s TV sets on The Voice.

Otty, 32, a supply PE teacher and singer, made it through the preliminary stages of the audition process for the show last autumn, and was called back for the filmed ‘blind auditions’ in December, where he had to perform in front of star judges Sir Tom Jones, Ricky Wilson, will.i.am and newcomer Rita Ora.

“But I still can’t reveal whether I got through the audition or not,“ Otty laughs. “My family knows because they want them to be there on the day, backstage with you as your support team, but I’ve had to keep it secret from everyone else.“

Otty, who regularly gigs around London with his band The Family at venues such as Ronnie Scott’s and the Jazz Café in Camden, applied for the show last year but didn’t make it beyond the initial stages to the televised auditions.

“I was a bit disappointed with myself, I thought I had unfinished business,“ he says.

The day of the blind auditions, which took place in Manchester, was hard work but a great experience for Otty. “It was such a long day, you started at 7.30am and I didn’t get to sing until 10.30pm!“ he laughs. “The waiting was actually the most difficult thing. But then, when you’re waiting to go on and perform in front of the judges, it’s exciting. I was a bit anxious but at the same time I was also thinking about all the things that could come from it. It’s such an opportunity, so you just have to go out there and take it.“

While Otty was trying hard to impress all the judges, he was particularly keen to win over will.i.am and Rita Ora, who he thought his slightly more soulful version of Labrinth’s Express Yourself might appeal to most.

“I wanted to make the song my own,“ explains Otty, who was a professional basketball player until the age of 28, when knee injuries forced him to re-evaluate his career. “You’ve only got 90 seconds to wow them, so you really want to do something to show yourself at your best. And this song really matches my personality, I’m a really fun and happy person, and I changed it just enough to make it ‘me’.“

Otty, a British Nigerian who grew up in Wembley and moved to Watford about five years ago, will be watching the show on Saturday night with his fiancé, and then bracing himself to go to his supply teaching job at Rickmansworth School on Monday morning.

“They don’t know I’m going to be on the show so I’m sure when I go in on Monday it’s going to be an interesting day!

  • Otty Warmann will be on The Voice on BBC One on Saturday, January 23 at 7pm.