He told the judges about the hard road that brought him there.
Avery was born premature, weighing just 1 pound, 8 ounces. He has small knots on his head, and his vocal cords don’t close all the way, so his voice sounds soft and airy.
In elementary school, other children made fun of him. They called him “Hammerhead.” One girl called him “Frog,” and got the whole class to join in. “It was relentless,” he said.
He went through a very dark time and felt like giving up.
That is when he picked up the saxophone. Music became his way to turn the pain into something beautiful.
Then he played. His sound was smooth and joyful, and soon the judges, Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Sofía Vergara and Howie Mandel, were clapping and swaying along. By the end, they were all on their feet.
Then host Terry Crews came out, with tears running down his face.
“You touched the heart of every human being in this building right now,” he told Avery. “You’ve been bullied all your life, but you tell every bully that you have a big brother named Terry Crews, who is here, who’s got your back.”
And with that, Terry slammed down the Golden Buzzer, sending Avery straight to the live shows as gold confetti fell.
Backstage, Terry gave him a big hug. “Your talent did this,” he said. “You did this!”
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