'America's Got Talent' 2017: Deaf Singer Gets Golden Buzzer
"America's Got Talent" has just returned for its 12th season and there are already several new talents that have wowed the audience.
One of them is deaf singer Mandy Harvey, who managed to get judge Simon Cowell to hit the golden buzzer despite her disability.
She performed an original song called "Try," which made everyone in the venue become emotional, even giving her a standing ovation after the performance.
The 29-year-old singer, however, revealed that she was not born deaf. She actually suffered connective tissue disorer about 10 years ago, which lead to her nerves deteriorating and completely losing her sense of hearing in both ears.
Harvey always had the love for music, starting to sing even when she was only 4 years old. However, after she lost her hearing, she gave up on music. Fortunately, she realized later on that she wanted to do more. So, she started practicing singing again, as well as playing the guitar, but this time, it was through memorization and feeling the music's vibrations with her feet.
After Cowell hit the golden buzzer, which sent Harvey straight to the live shows, he approaced the singer on stage and said that it was "one of the most amazing things" he has ever seen and heard.
The video of Harvey's performance was posted on the "America's Got Talent" official Facebook page and it had garnerned more than six million views just two hours after it went online.
Some of the other talents who had come out victorious of the "America's Got Talent" season 12 auditions, as reported by Heavy, include 12-year-old singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne, stand-up comedian Preacher Larson, escape artist Demian Aditya, singer Yoli Mayor, salsa dancing duo Junior and Emily Alibi, magician Will Tsai, a singing Donald Trump impersonator, and, believe it or not, a piano-playing chicken.
"America's Got Talent" season 12 is off to a good start. According to USA Today, the show got 12.3 million same-day viewers when it premiered on Tuesday, May 30 on NBC.