Britain's Got Talent star reveals reason she quit 'intense' ITV show after first audition

Singer Kelli-Leigh has revealed exactly why she decided to step away from Britain's Got Talent following her first audition despite getting four yeses from the judges

A Britain's Got Talent star has revealed her "intense" experience on the show that made her quit after the first audition.

Singer Kelli-Leigh was part of group Band of Voices, who appeared on the 2013 series of the hit ITV talent competition. The group performed an acapella version of Jessie J's Price Tag, which saw them sail through to the live shows. They even made it all the way to the semi-finals, however Kelli-Leigh decided to leave after just one performance and has since gone on to find international fame and even received several Grammy Award nominations.

Explaining how the group ended up on the show, Kelli-Leigh said: "We were doing five-part harmonies of pop songs as we suddenly had this opportunity presented to us to sing for BGT on a straight, live audition. We didn't have to do a pre audition because some of the producers had seen us. Our first audition is the performance that you can see on BGT."

It has gone on to become one of the show's most watched auditions. Speaking on the You Know My Voice podcast, Kelli-Leigh said: "The performance, I absolutely loved. It was the most amazing experience to go out there, it was really nerve wracking then the crowd just reacted and we got all the yeses."

However, there was one aspect of the show she didn't like. Kelli-Leigh explained: "But, it was the production of the show that I didn't really enjoy because I think there was a lot of stuff that then needed to happen. I was like, 'this isn't my identity and I'm not sure if I want to play this game'. I didn't feel right."

She explained the group was made up of backing vocalists (BVs), but claimed producers wanted them to have a narrative on the show. Kelli-Leigh said: "I was singing with Adele at the time, I was doing BVs for her 21 tour. They wanted to do the whole aspect of 'I am a BV but I want to be the star'. I don't always love that narrative for BVs because backing vocalists are incredible and a lot of them will want to do their own thing.

"Some of them will want to stay as BVs and support the amazing artists they sing with. When they sometimes spin that narrative, it is not very nice for the artist that you work with. I kept very quiet because there was no way I'm dropping Adele's name in this." After performing with Band of Voices during the audition, Kelli-Leigh decided to step away from the group.

She said: "It was really nice to do that and then bow out. It wasn't for me. The group got through and a new singer joined. When Louise went in, there was a lot of 'what happened to the other singer'. It was very intense. I love the performance but the surrounding whirlwind of it was not for me."

Despite touring with Adele on her 21 tour, Kelli-Leigh decided to not return to tour with the pop star again as she wanted to further her own solo career. Kelli-Leigh previously said: "She's incredible, her voice is insane, I would have goosebumps on my arms just standing there waiting to do my backing vocal moment. I didn't go back on the 25 tour, I wanted to back myself and I believed in myself and I've always wanted to be an artist, I knew it was my moment to step out."

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