Leicester College alumnus, Howard Rose, snapped up by Sir Tom Jones

Another Leicestershire star in the making has made an impression on the judges of The Voice.

Howard Rose performed My Generation on Saturday’s series opener, tempting both Tom Jones and Ricky Wilson to turn their chairs around during the blind auditions.

His song started off as a quiet acoustic version of The Who’s hit before the studio band joined in, getting all four judges, including Will.i.am and Rita Ora, bouncing in their big chairs.

Howard, 28, said: “It was amazing and the band did a great job.

“Some of the other contestants got all four judges to turn around but Tom Jones was the only one I was really interested in.”

Howard signed up to be on Tom’s team at the end of the show.

“Ricky was talking to me afterwards and he was just lovely and really convincing but I had my heard set on Tom and although it was a close thing I did go with him,” he said.

The blind auditions – which were recorded in October – are the first of three challenges the contestants have to survive before the live shows begin in March.

Howard, who grew up in Leicester and studied music at Leicester College before moving to Manchester three years ago, said local contestants of the last series of The Voice – Sally Barker and James Byron – had been wishing him the best.

He said: “Sally, who was a finalist last year, and James, who also went to Leicester College, have both been in touch with me to say good luck, which is brilliant.”

Ahead of Saturday’s show there were gruelling auditions to get through before the televised trials began.

Howard said: “There were lots of preliminary rounds before getting through to being on the show as well.

“But it’s been great.”

Howard, who teaches music to primary school pupils, does gigs as a solo artist and with his band, Suburban Sons.

He was playing an open mic night at a pub in Manchester when he was spotted by a talent scout for The Voice.

He said: “It was very odd. I got a phone call and it left me pretty shocked.

“I was thinking, ‘Is this real? Has someone just rang me up from The Voice?’

“It isn’t the sort of thing I would have thought of to go for on my own but it’s probably been the best decision of my career.”

The last two years have been bumper ones for Leicestershire with Sam Bailey, of Leicester Forest East, winning the X-Factor in 2013 and Sally Barker, of Lutterworth, finishing as a runner-up in The Voice last year.

Sally has been touring the UK for the past four months after getting a boost from the show, while Sam is about to embark on a new tour.

Having given birth to her new daughter Miley in September, Sam will begin her tour at De Montfort Hall on January 29.