When 11-year-old identical twins Shanice and Andrea Nyandoro were born, only their mother could tell them apart, by their distinctive cries.
As the Year 7 pair grew up, they played tricks on teachers by switching classes but their mum Faith could always see through their trouble-making.
“She knows how we do it,” laughs Shanice, who is the elder twin by 15 minutes. “She has caught up with all our pranks now.”
The sisters soon revealed other talents when, growing up in Leicester and being part of Faith’s church community, they started singing before they could talk.
“They couldn’t speak for some time but I would sing to them,” says Faith, 60.
“They’d just light up. And when they were two they started singing along. My husband and I used to be amazed, we’d think, ‘They can’t speak but they can sing’.”
Nurturing their talent has set Shanice and Andrea in good stead.
Tonight they appear on The Voice Kids hoping to impress coaches will.i.am, Pixie Lott, Ronan Keating and Danny Jones, and getting through the blind audition.
They’ll be singing the Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande version of Faith, one of their favourites since joining their gospel choir aged nine.
They were most excited to meet Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am.
“Meeting him was so surreal, because we have never met anyone as big as him. At first it was really weird but he was normal, very chill and not that hyped up,” says Andrea.
She pushed for them to apply for the ITV show after success with their TikTok channel.
Andrea adds: “A few years ago, I remember watching, thinking, ‘How am I gonna get on the show?’
“A couple of months ago I was looking online but The Voice applications had closed. Then I saw an advert for The Voice Kids. Luckily we got in.”
But the pair told how they had chatted before about wanting to be on different teams if they were to pass the blind audition.
“I wanted to be on Team Pixie,” says Andrea.
“I felt she would relate to us more in where we’re at with our singing and give us more meaningful songs that relate to us.”
Shanice adds: “And I wanted to be on Team Will.i.am. I was really surprised when Andrea said she wanted to be coached by Pixie, because will.i.am has worked with so many artists, most of his songs are upbeat, and he would have brought our personalities out more.”
Before their song, the girls prayed backstage. “There were a million things going through my mind,” says Andrea.
After they finished, she was speechless. She says: “When the judges were talking, I couldn’t get my words out, which is why Shanice was talking more than me.”
“And that never happens,” laughs her sister. The pair are excited by the opportunities ahead.
With their own YouTube channel, where they “love to have fun”, their TikTok for dancing and singing, and an Instagram page to keep friends and family up to date, both hope to go into the entertainment industry.
Andrea says: “I want to be a singer but if I don’t get to do that I want to do something with music, because it brings happiness to my soul when I sing in front of people.”
Whatever happens, they’ll have the support of their musical family – their brother plays keyboards and older sister is involved in music.
And Faith, who the twins cite as their inspiration, couldn’t be prouder. “I couldn’t believe my babies were on stage in front of all these people and judges,” she says. “I was so proud.”
Shanice laughs: “We tried to make Mum cry, that’s our goal. It didn’t work but we’ll try again next time…”
* The Voice Kids returns to ITV1 and ITVX tonight at 7.30pm.
