The Voice hopeful Karl Michael admitted that the popular BBC1 competition is his last shot at fame after a string of failed record deals.

Michael has been cleaning windows during the day and working at a bar at night to pay rent at his bedsit since his last contract with Atlantic record label fell through six months ago.

He admitted seeing former contemporaries — including Ed Sheeran — go on to achieve global fame made him depressed.

Michael said: “I let my guard down when I was signed to Atlantic. I expected everyone to do the work for me.

“But it doesn’t work that way. Ed Sheeran is a good example. He signed to Atlantic the same time as me and we even performed together. He built himself from the ground up, gigging all over the UK, making videos. My band didn’t do anything like that. Now I’ll be working in a bar and his songs come on. If I say I know him, people just say: ‘Whatever.'”

Michael added: “The Voice is my last chance. Last year I was eating lobster and drinking champagne, flying to LA for work. Then I was dropped and I was washing windows for a living. It was a shock and I got very depressed.”

Michael first began his shot at fame with his band Domino Go!, who were first signed in 2005 to Sony BMG. The deal collapsed two years later after the label tried to change their sound from pop to reggae.

Their second deal was with Atlantic in 2009, failed last year and Karl decided to go it alone.

He said: “I left Domino Go! and got two jobs, one behind a bar and another washing windows.

“I’ve been living in a horrible bedsit for nine months. It’s a box room with a sink and a mini-oven. I wouldn’t invite a girl there.”

Viewers of The Voice last night saw Sir Tom Jones, Danny O’Donoghue, Jessie J and will.i.am all turn their chairs for Karl, who sang Annie Lennox’s 'No More I Love You’s'.

In the end, he decided to join The Script coach Danny’s team and said: “I’m determined to give it my all.”

Watch Karl Michael's audition for The Voice here: