The Voice is over for another year with 18-year-old Ruti Olajugbagbe crowned the 2018 champion. Ruti battled her way through the semi-finals to make it to the grand final and with the support of her coach Tom Jones she was crowned the winner.
She is a student and part-time carer from South-end-on-Sea. Ruti lives with her mum, dad and little brother Femi and currently attends the Youth Creation Performing Arts School in Stanford-le-Hope. She was crowned the winner on April 7 after seeing off the challenge of Donel Mangena on the final night.
The teenager, who was on Tom Jones’s team, sang her way to victory, beating Donel Mangena, Belle Voci and Lauren Bannon. After performing one song and a duet with their coach, the vote was frozen and Belle Voci and Lauren were eliminated after receiving the lowest number of votes.
It was then down to Ruti and Donel to go head-to-head, with them both performing one more song – and Donel’s grandma even reprised her performance from the Blind Auditions by joining her grandson on stage.
But ultimately it was Ruti who won, and now her rendition of Dreams by The Cranberries will be released as her debut single on Polydor Records.