Darren Percival lights up The Voice

COOLUM'S Darren Percival has wowed The Voice coaches and viewers alike with his first live performance.

Percival opened tonight's show with a soulful rendition of Paul Young's Wherever I Lay My Hat.

"Making it to the live shows is so exciting because you get to bring that little bit of magic that's just you," Percival said before his performance.

Coach Keith Urban could not have picked a better song for Percival.

The Paul Young hit showed off his deep voice and emotional connection to the lyrics.

The other coaches heaped praise on Percival, with Joel Madden labelling him his favourite singer outside of his own team.

"Dude your'e so smooth man," Madden said.

"You've got so much swag. So may women around Australia are calling you 'daddy' right now. I want you to be the one on Team Keith to go all the way."

Seal said an incredible performance like Percival's was what it would take to win the competition.

"When you're faced with the fact that several million people are at home watching and it's live, that's what separates the women from the girls and the men from the boys," he said.

Delta Goodrem's feedback had Percival close to tears.

"Hopefully you'll show that nice guys can finish first," she said.

"You're just so easy to love."

Within minutes Percival was trending on Twitter and he will be a strong contender for the public vote to remain on Urban's team.