Sunderland's The Voice hopeful to battle it out in Saturday's show

Melissa Cavanagh, 25, is hoping to sing her way to glory in the Battles round of the BBC show.

After making it through the initial blind auditions thanks to her powerful rendition of Blame by Calvin Harris, she’ll go head-to-head with fellow Team Boy George member Vangelis.

Melissa, of Ashbrooke, said: “The battle is my favourite bit of the show. You get some absolutely quality duets. I’m a massive fan of the show and I have been watching previous battles over and over for research.”

Speaking about going up against Vangelis and possibly beating him, she said: “It will be sad to see people go but it’s the name of the game. The industry is really competitive so it’s a reflection of that. You are always going to be up against other people and someone will have to lose out.”

The pair will perform You by U2 in the hopes of impressing the coaches.

The panel, made up of will.i.am, Boy George, Paloma Faith and Ricky Wilson, will each take eight artists through to the knockouts stage.

Vangelis said: “If I’m honest, the battles are my least favourite part of the competition. I don’t enjoy thinking about screaming over another singer. I want to remain true to who I am and do what I do best which will hopefully shine through. I’ve never competed against someone else, but knowing I have no choice, I just have to bring everything I have to the table.”

Former Thornhill School pupil Melissa discovered a talent for singing while a pupil at the school from 2001 to 2006 under music and performance art teachers Mark Leadbeater and Jacqui Bennett.

Beating cancer as a teenager spurred her on to chase her dreams and she now regularly performs to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

•Find out if Melissa gets through on The Voice on BBC1 at 7pm on Saturday.