DJ lands top gig on Voice

Havana Brown was due to catch a plane from Australia back to her new base in the US when she received a call inviting her to become a mentor on The Voice.

"I was meant to be flying back to LA but I was like, 'Detour! Let's get back to Australia now'," the DJ-turned-singer excitedly told AAA.

A fan of the Nine talent show's first two seasons, Brown did not hesitate to push her plans aside for the offer but it was only when she was told which celebrity coach she would be assisting that reality set in as to just how big an opportunity her new role would be.

Having grown up on Ricky Martin's music, the We Run The Night hitmaker, 29, was thrilled to join his team but admitted a tiny part of her did wonder whether the Puerto Rican star would live up to the hype.

"I had this impression of how he was going to be but I can tell you now, most of the time it's very different from what you expect," Brown, who has toured with Britney Spears, Rihanna and Bruno Mars, said.

"But Ricky is exactly how he seems. He is full of love, lots of hugs and just has so much energy. He has so much passion and I love being around that sort of personality. It's a great job to do in the first place but with him, it just takes it to that next level."

With The Voice moving from the Battle Rounds to the Showdown stage last night Brown now has the difficult job of helping whittle down the nine singers on Martin's team to just four, who will later progress to the live shows.

The Melbourne-born performer said all members of Team Ricky had powerful voices but she was looking forward to working with them on building up their confidence and delivering songs with emotion.

"They are so talented and sometimes they don't even know it," Brown said of the contestants.

"You think, 'How could you be insecure when you sing like that?'

"We want to make sure they know how special they are and get to show off everything they can do."