Jermain Jackman prepares to release debut album a year after winning The Voice

(Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

The Voice UK winner Jermain Jackman is to release his debut album almost a year after triumphing in the BBC singing show.

His self-titled 12-track release, which is made up entirely of original songs, is out on March 23.

Jermain said: "I think my music has the ability to appeal to people of all walks of life and ages, but I'm still a young man and I want my music to reflect that too."

He landed a record deal when he won the show last April - becoming the first male winner in the process.

The Voice has yet to produce a star to match the success of acts created by the X Factor. The winner of the first series, Leanne Mitchell, flopped. Her debut single did not reach the top 40 and her album missed out on the top 100.

US star Will.i.am, one of the coaches on the show, said Leanne's record company should be 'embarrassed' about her lack of success and said it took too long for winning acts to release a single.

He said: "If you're having performers sing other people's songs, you should have a whole bunch of songs ready in your arsenal. It's hopeless to release a record so long after the series finished, especially in the attention deficit disorder society that we live in today."

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.