The Voice contestant Karl Michael used to perform with global star Ed Sheeran.

Karl, 27, had been signed to record label Atlantic with Ed, but said he let his opportunity slip through his fingers while The A Team singer grabbed it with both hands, according to The Sun.

Window cleaner and barman Karl 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'.

"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."

Karl was part of a band called Domino Go! that were signed to Sony BMG in 2005 and when they were later dropped, signed with Atlantic in 2009, a deal that also fell through last year.

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."

Karl was fought over by all four judges on Saturday's The Voice heats after his performance of No More I Love Yous and chose to go with The Script star Danny O'Donoghue's team.