The Voice’s Erin Whetters: ‘I was told to lose 10kg by a record label’

Ever since she was three years old, Erin Whetters has been belting out tunes.

“I was the youngest in my family so I think singing was my way of being heard,” she tells 9Honey.

Her dream was to become a singer so she began lessons at eight years old.

After years of hard work, this dream looked likely to come true when a record agency asked her in for a demo. But soon, it all went pear-shaped.

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“I was 17 and they said, ‘You’ve got an amazing voice but honey, sex sells so lose 10 kilograms and then come back’,” Whetters recalls. “I was a bit shocked and just said, ‘Okay, thank you’ and walked out.”

Despite brushing off the encounter, Whetters admits that this was a real turning point for her.

While she didn’t stop singing immediately, she admits it was ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

“I felt myself starting to resent singing and all the broken promises and thought: ‘I can’t do this anymore’,” she remembers.

Whetters was 19 when she stopped singing. She remembers feeling lost, but managed to pulled herself through by studying, and later followed a ‘proper’ career in nursing.

She had pushed her dream away – until now.

After her sister sent in an application for The Voice, Whetters didn’t think much else about it.

Then she got the call to audition.

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Since she hadn’t been actively training, she started singing in the car and the shower to try and prepare for the show.

“I hadn't sung in front of people in such a long time so being on national television, I had lots of different emotions running through me,” she says.

She had to keep reminding herself to stay focused on her performance and try to forget that there were four music industry heavyweights listening to her. 

Although it’s only early days, Whetters says that the competition has already sky-rocketed her confidence and belief in her singing ability – and made her even more sure she can do this, no matter what her size is.

“I just want others who have been, or are, in my shoes to know that you have to believe in yourself and, as hard as it is, don’t let what others say hurt you – not everyone is going to like you and that’s okay,” she adds.

“I don’t care about that type of negativity anymore.”