will.i.am, the coach fans kept seeing

will.i.am sat in the first series and was still the coach many fans named when the show had already moved from television later. Other chairs changed. His did not, for long stretches of the run. That is why a piece about acts who came through the years has to start with him as well as with the singers.

He arrived as a member of the Black Eyed Peas, not as a television invention. The show used that fame. A coach who is already known gives the blind audition a second story: the singer wants the turn, and the audience wants to see whether this particular coach hits the button.

Fans remember the pitches. When more than one chair turned, the singer chose a team, and the coaches had to sell themselves. will.i.am's pitches became part of the weekly clip. People quoted them. They also argued about them. That is ordinary fan talk, and it is not an official statement from him or from the programme.

A long-running coach is a thread through otherwise separate series. Winners change. Hosts change. The button stays. will.i.am is one of the reasons a viewer who left after series one could come back years later and still recognise the panel.

This is an independent fan note by Aston Kennedy, founder and owner of this site. It is not written by the artist, and it is not an official page.

The music sites that sit beside this fan writing are Roktalk, NTS Music, Kool 946 FM, The Shapeshifters and Simian Mobile Disco. Family pieces are on The Mother Magazine. The fan site is The V Fan Site.