The pressure was on Ross, after coach Joel Madden saved him last week, meaning he went through to the next round without having his performance voted on by the public.

After Madden saved Ross, Twitter exploded with people suggesting he chose the wrong singer.

Last night Ross, who is reportedly dating former team-mate Hannah Darling, sang the Neil Young song Old Man.

The Kangaroo Valley man  dedicated the song to his father, who died of skin cancer when he was just 10. Ross sang and played an acoustic guitar while images of his father were projected on a wall behind him.

The response was likely better than Ross could have imagined, with coach Seal saying that it was ‘‘the best we’ve heard you’’ and then going on to tag him as ‘‘the future of Australian music’’.

His coach Madden, said Ross was ‘‘the real deal’’ and that ‘‘this was the performance I wanted you to have.’’

Ross will now have to survive a public vote next week to make it into the top two performers in Team Joel. The other singers vying for one of those two slots are Kiyomi Vella and 45-year-old Michael Stangel.

Another person with a South Coast  connection made it through to the next round.

Karen Andrews - aka Miss Murphy - once studied at the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music. 

She was one of two people from Team Ricky to go through to the next round via the public vote. Tonight she sang Killing Me Softly, in a performance that gained her a standing ovation.