JLS star Oritse Williams makes shocking confession about his early days in music world

JLS star Oritse Williams has shared how top record producers made him feel about his singing voice.

While conversing with MailOnline, the 38-year-old singer of Nigerian and Caribbean descent revealed that he faced extreme pressure to suppress his natural singing style to match his band members, namely JB Gill, Aston Merrygold, and Marvin Humes.

Calling to mind those days, Williams said, “I think during the time of being with the group, as much as it was a great experience, in the very early days, I think I struggled a little bit with where I actually fitted in.” (sic)

He added, “Because even working in studios with very pop producers in the beginning, we worked with some of the best producers and writers in the world. There were comments like when I went to the booth, ‘Your voice is too black, it's too soulful’ to only me as an individual in the group.”

The Beat Again crooner went on to explain that the music of his culture “inspired” him and “all the music he listened to” was from his culture.

“I'm inspired by music from the world, but essentially my roots lie in Afro, Caribbean, RnB and soulful sounds. That's what I grew up listening to and that was being played in my household,” he quipped.

“I struggled with understanding where does a voice like mine now fit into pop music at that time, where artists like Justin Bieber and those vocal sounds were what was at the forefront of mainstream radio,” the Eternal Love hitmaker noted.

“And I was like, ‘Well, I don't sound like Justin Bieber. I don't sound like some of these very commercial singers, like Shawn Mendes. And so now I'm in this commercial pop group, and I'm struggling with the fact that I'm also very different from the rest of my group members, vocally and musically,’” Williams stated.