During a recent commercial break during the taping of an episode of NBC’s America’s Got Talent, an 11-year-old girl who was sitting in the audience wowed the show’s judges and won the hearts of audience members with her powerful rendition of the classic hymn “Amazing Grace.”
It’s a standing custom by the show’s producers to give some audience members an opportunity to sing during the show’s breaks for commercials.
Madison Baez Taylor, who was actually slated to be a contestant, was watching the taping with her dad, Chris. According to the show’s host Terry Crews, she had been placed in the audience in order to trick judges Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel just to see if they noticed.
And to say they noticed is an understatement.
Taylor held up her hand and a man came over and handed her a microphone. She then belted out the song with her powerful voice, surprising the audience and the judges.
Howie Mandel, who was sitting at the judge’s table, heard Taylor’s voice and turned around to get a better look. Simon Cowell, who also serves as the show’s executive producer, was walking back on set and was amazed by the voice he heard.
The audience then began chanting for the girl to go up on stage. Cowell asked Taylor her name, how old she was and who she was with. After getting the thumbs up from her dad, Cowell allowed her to go up on the stage.
“We do ask people in the breaks if they’d like to sing a song and I was literally just coming back in and I heard this voice, thinking, ‘Who … is that?'” Cowell told Taylor. “And then I see this little thing in the audience, and it’s you.”
Taylor explained that she has been to many tapings of the show and has dreamed of auditioning for several years.
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