Friday, November 30, 2012 1:49pm ET by  
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Ricky Martin signs up for The Voice Australia

Ricky Martin will step in to replace Keith Urban on the Australian version of The Voice, it has been confirmed.

He teased the exciting news yesterday (November 29) with a cryptic post sent to his official Twitter page: "Sending some mad love to everyone in #Australia! Can't wait to go back! Peace!"

Urban left the show back in September and is now on the judging panel of the new 'American Idol' season.

Michael Healy, Nine’s director of television, described Martin having the perfect amount of experience to be able to coach contestants well: "He brings huge experience to our panel of coaches which he’ll pass on to our Australian Voice artists in 2013."

Martin also recently spoke out about using his celebrity as a platform to raise awareness for worthy causes and admitted that he felt compelled to talk about human trafficking because he had a voice people would listen to and a certain amount of power:

"I think if we have the opportunity to be in front of the audience, we don’t want to change people, but we can plant a seed and then for them to do whatever they want with that information. How I started working against human trafficking [for the Ricky Martin Foundation] was because I heard about it and then I was like, 'Well, I cannot not do anything, if I stay quiet, it’s like allowing it to happen.'"

"For many years I did it quietly, because I had this conception people might think I was doing it for recognition, until I talked to real activists who told me, "Dude, you need to talk about this, because people listen." I know many activists who have been doing a beautiful job for many years. Music gave me a fantastic platform to reach masses."

 

 

 

Watch his music video for 'The Best Thing About Me Is You' here: