Saturday, April 7, 2012 3:14pm ET by  
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Amy Winehouse inspires best friend to pass The Voice audition stage

Amy Winehouse’s best friend and former lover, Tyler James, has made it through to the next stage of The Voice after revealing the late singer inspired him to audition.

The 30-year-old, who discovered Amy’s body at her London flat last July, will now be mentored by Will.i.am, after his rendition of Otis Redding’s ‘Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay,’ convinced the Black Eyed Peas star to turn his chair around.

Before his performance, James told the cameras that Winehouse's passing encouraged him to keep on pursuing his music career: "When I was a teenager my best friend was Amy Winehouse. We became friends when we were like 12, 13. We both went to the same school - we've been best friends since then.

"We were like two peas in a pod, we were like two halves of the same person. Last summer it was the worst day of my life. Amy died and my whole life changed. Now she's here with me, I know that.

"It's about me finding my own feet and the only way for me that I'm ever going to find that is through music. This competition is about me building up my confidence. There's a lot riding on this."

The Barnsley-born vocalist, who had a brief pop career in the mid-00s with Top 40 singles ‘Foolish’ and ‘Why Do I Do?,’ was partly responsible for launching Winehouse’s career after sending her demos to various management companies, resulting in her first deal with Simon Fuller’s 19 Management. 

After being sent through to the next round, James said: I've had the hardest year. I just hope that in the next phase of this, I up my game and go back to the singer I know I can be."

 

 

 

Watch the video for Tyler's Top 20 single, 'Foolish,' below: