Singing superstar Lauren Bannon-Hayes has won the hearts of her town but sadly missed out of being crowned the winner of one of Britain’s most prestigious singing talent shows. 

Lauren battled it out on the live final of The Voice UK on Saturday night against Essex student Ruti Olajugbagbe, Donel Mangena from Southampton and girl group Belle Voci.

The 27-year-old wowed the audience after giving a solo performance of Stay by Shakespears Sister.

This was followed by a performance of Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in a duet with her mentor Olly Murs.

After the acts and coaches had performed, the first two contestants to leave the competition were named as Lauren and Belle Voci, leaving Donel and Ruti to battle it out for the winning spot.

However, Ruti stole the show with after duetting with mentor Sir Tom Jones with a classic version of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World as well as belting out Daniel Bedingfield's If You're Not the One.

ollowing the final of the competition, Lauren said: "I am so happy to have been a finalist, it has been an amazing journey and probably one of the best moments of my life. 

"I love my hometown who have been absolutely amazing, I wish I could have taken the crown home for them but it's okay you haven't seen the last of me."

She added that her highlight was getting to work with the creative team who she says did a 'fantastic job' while she intends to keep in touch with her mentor Olly.

In an emotional video posted on Twitter on Sunday morning, Lauren thanked all her fans and said she was 'so grateful' for all the messages of support.

Lauren was propelled into The Voice final following a dazzling performance of Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight in the semi-finals.

The Voice has now launched auditions for the 2019 edition of the series.
Auditions will be held at The Gloucester on Friday, May 4 from 9pm to 11pm and at Finn's on Saturday, May 5 from 11am to 1pm.