By Osei Akoto – Despite the live final being disrupted by a stage invader and Tom Jones accidentally swearing on air, last Sunday’s episode of The Voice was not one to miss. Nigerian singer Mo Adeniran emerged victorious from the UK version of the hit reality TV singing competition.
The 21-year-old hotel worker was visibly shocked by the results. He showed thanks to his mentor on the show, singer and Oscar winning actress Jennifer Hudson, who immediately burst into tears. It was a bittersweet moment for Hudson as another one of her mentees, Jamie Miller, came in third place. The crowd roared in support for Mo as confetti fell around him. All his fellow contestants including runners-up (and Tom Jones’ mentees) Into The Ark all rushed to offer their congratulations too. Mo took the title after two superb performances of Paolo Nutini’s Iron Sky and Unsteady by X Ambassadors.
The finalists have had to overcome their own obstacles to get to the last live show. In Mo’s case, he was born into care and then adopted at 3 years old. It was later discovered that the woman that had adopted him was violent and abusive leading to Mo being taken away
again at the age of 8.
This intense amount of stress at such a young age would be too much for most people but Mo overcame his struggle and has forgiven his adopted mother, saying “No one can be perfect one hundred percent of the time and I accept that, I felt better about myself when I moved on. I have nothing but lover for her.”
“I have no anger, I have nothing but love for her. “I believe in treating people how you’d wish to be treated.” When asked if she had been in contact with him to congratulate him he said “She hasn’t congratulated me yet. It’s one of those where it’s a very fragile
relationship.”
Mo was also affected by the sudden death of the four piece English band Viola Beach along with their manager after an accident while they were touring in Sweden last year. Mo went to school and was best friends with Jack Dakin, one of the band members. He confessed
“I’m still coming to terms with what happened, I think about the band all the time and I think about Mike all the time. I went to high school with Jack.”
