A JUNK food addict who was terrified to leave his home as his weight ballooned to 26 stone has battled through the auditions of The Voice.

Millions of viewers watched last night as Rick Snowdon reduced the coaches to tears with his stunning performance of I Put a Spell on You.

The Nina Simone classic - in the limelight recently with Annie Lennox's version for Fifty Shades of Grey - was enthusiastically received by the audience.

Impressed judges Boy George, Paloma Faith and Kaiser Chiefs front-man Ricky Wilson - who was sobbed after the rendition - all turned their chairs to see him.

Singer-songwriter Rick, 29, from Hartlepool, said: "It was the best feeling I've ever had - it feels like a long time since those dark days."

Rick - through to the last 120 from 120,000 hopefuls - fought with his food addiction for years and was eating £25 worth of sweets and pastries every day.

He told The Northern Echo last year after being invited to audition for the BBC1 talent show how he was afraid to look in the mirror, and showered with his eyes closed so he didn't have to look at himself.

A rigorous regime of exercise and diet helped long-haired Rick lose more than half of his body weight - and crash down from his incredible 56-inch waist.

He learned to play guitar while he locked himself away in his home for more than four solitary years listening to his father's records of Led Zeppelin, Queen and David Bowie.

Today, he said: "I'd dreamt about the Blind Auditions and not getting through. I couldn't believe it when three coaches turned for me. It felt amazing and left me speechless.

"Growing up, never getting picked for anything or winning anything - from that to this, it was unreal.

"I was so shocked when the coaches turned for me.

"The wait to go on seemed like it took forever but it was over so quickly, and with three coaches turning for me, I was on cloud nine for a week after. It left me totally amazed."

The Northern Echo:

Millions of viewers watched as Rick Snowdon reduced the coaches to tears.

Rick now has 16 guitars in his home, along with a drum kit, keyboard, violin, bongos, harmonica and countless amplifiers, and has just released his latest single, Bring You Home.

"Without music, I'd have eaten myself to death," he said. "I just surrounded myself with it, and it has saved me from what would've been a certain death."

Rick was bullied throughout his school days - branded Fat Snowy by cruel children - and would rarely turn up for classes beyond the age of nine.

He weighed 19 stone at the age of 15 and has told how he was "very, very shy" and fought back when he was attacked "because I was bigger than them".

But it got to the point where he began to believe what was being said, and treated himself the way the bullies did.

"I thought they were right," said Rick. "I was telling myself that I wasn't worth anything, and I was a waste of time.

"Then I got involved in music, picked up a guitar, started playing, and decided I wanted to be in a band and be a rock star.

"I started missing classes. I was anti-authority and would not let the teachers tell me what to do. I knew what I wanted.

"I would walk out of classes and come home to practice guitar. I didn't pass any of my GCSEs, but at that time I wasn't bothered.

"I didn't go to school a lot. I was so, so scared of people - very, very scared. I didn't like to talk to people.

"After school, I rarely went out. I covered myself up with massive clothes, and was extremely embarrassed about my weight.

"I could not be around people. My eyes watered when I was around other kids, and I was constantly pulling myself down.

"My dad used to listen to music on his record player, smash out Led Zeppelin, and scream along to it. I didn't know what it was at that time, but I was entertained. It was something about the power.

"It was loud and raw and exciting. That's what I aspire to. That's what I want to be now. I want people to take notice."

On one of his rare nights out with his brother William, Rick felt so uncomfortable he vowed to stay indoors for four months to lose enough weight to face the world again.

"That four months turned into four-and-a-half years," he said. "And because I had little contact with people, I became depressed and ate more.

"I would eat £25 worth of sweet stuff every day, things like cookies, eclairs, bars of chocolate, crepes and other pastries.

"Since then, I've started doing weights and do it three times a week now. My weight went down to 12 stone but I was too thin.

"I would go on an exercise bike for 20 minutes a day, sometimes 40 minutes, with bin bags on me to make myself sweat as much as possible.

"I ate chicken sandwiches and I would stuff myself with as much salad as I could to give me the feeling of being full, trick my mind.

"I have just surrounded myself with music. It was a solution, a way to save myself, and something to aspire to."

* Bring You Home - written as a reminder of the challenge he went through - is available on itunes and can be viewed on YouTube here.