Her slim fingers wiped away tears just minutes before she nervously stepped on stage and Cherri Prince was filled with fear that her dreams may be dashed.

As the crowd fell silent she felt the silence stretching out endlessly before her but was totally unaware there was just one precious place left up for grabs on The Voice.

And then her wonderfully jazzy rendition of Stop filled the studio.

It seemed certain that on any other day Kylie, will.i.am, Tom and Ricky would be slamming their hands on those big red buttons and snapping up the Hornsey songstress for their team. But as the final notes of the song began to fade Cherri was left staring at the backs of all four chairs.

“I knew it was getting late in the day and thought there can’t be many spaces, but had no idea whatsoever how many, “ she says, recalling those nail-biting moments.

“I was just getting on with it until the last line I sang and was then having a conversation in my head – ’OK it’s fine at least I have sung the song well’.

“When he did turn around I did a little funny jump.“ Judge will.i.am left it to the last moment to pick the 33-year-old as his final singer and said he already had a jazzy singer and didn’t want to “double dip“.

But the Black Eyed Peas hitmaker told Cherri he decided she was “worth breaking the rules for“.

A phlebotomist who works in a doctor’s surgery taking blood samples from patients by day, Cherri has been dreaming of breaking into the music industry since she was a teenager.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent she moved to London when she was 13 with her family and went to Northumberland Park Community School.

She says: “I have had people tweeting me with memories of me singing Mary J Blige in assembly.

“We had a really good music department there, so I was always singing and I took music as a GCSE, but it took off more when I left after sixth form.

“Everything else was just filling the gap and it still is to be honest. Music is what makes me happy.“ She is more used to performing her own music, having released an EP of self-penned songs and had never sung the Sam Brown hit before, but her jazzy style is inspired by singers from Billie Holiday to Erykah Badu and Andre 3000 to Lianne La Havas.

On Monday, it was straight back into rehearsals for her Tuesday night show at Ronnie Scott’s and she says: “I don’t know how I’m feeling. I have been in a bit of a bubble.

“People have been so nice on Twitter saying they like my voice and my own music, and that means the world to me.“ The statuesque brunette performed her first gig eight years ago and has been trying to break into the big time ever since, but was persuaded to apply for The Voice by her uncle.

“It was a rollercoaster,“ she says, “the next thing I knew I was standing on stage in front of those chairs.

“I was terrified. I put so much pressure on myself and I don’t even know why.

“I have been doing music for such a long time and felt the whole responsibility of spending all my time on it on my shoulders and had to prove myself.

“I didn’t want to let anyone down.“ Cherri said she had wanted to be on will’s team from the start and now believes she has what it takes to go all the way.

“I don’t want to be set on winning it, but I think I have got the potential, definitely. It’s such a massive platform to get on and if people like what I do then why not?

“I know there’s a market for what I’m doing and this is my dream.“ The vintage fashion lover is now gearing up to go head to head with the other singers in the ’battle round’ and admits she can be quite competitive.

“No one wants to play games with me at Christmas because I can’t lose.

“But the hardest part for me has already happened with the blind auditions and I feel confident enough in myself and want to really enjoy the experience and embrace it.“

The Voice is on BBC1 on Saturdays at 7pm.