Her family says she had always been painfully shy. Talking to people was hard for her, and making friends was not easy. Singing was the one place where she felt at home.
In 2018, she flew to America to audition for America’s Got Talent.
When she walked onto the stage, she could barely look up. Judge Mel B gently asked her a few questions, and Courtney quietly admitted she was very nervous. Some people in the audience did not know what to expect.
Then the music started.
Courtney launched into “Hard to Handle,” the 1968 Otis Redding song, and suddenly she was a different person. She danced across the stage and sang with a big, raspy voice that seemed to come from another era. Within seconds the crowd was on its feet.
When she finished, Simon Cowell shook his head. “You were this shy little thing when you came out,” he told her. “Then you sing and you’re like a lion.”
Howie Mandel compared her to Janis Joplin. “You are not from this era,” he said. Then he told her the only thing he could do for her was to give her his Golden Buzzer, and he hit it. Gold confetti fell from the ceiling, and Courtney covered her face and cried.
The Golden Buzzer sent her straight through to the live shows. Her audition aired on June 12, 2018, and the video spread around the world. Host Tyra Banks later said it had been viewed more than 200 million times.
Courtney went all the way to the final that September. She did not win, but she later signed a record deal and came back for America’s Got Talent: The Champions, where she sang a song she had written herself.
Afterwards she said the Golden Buzzer was “more than I ever could have dreamed of.”
Not bad for a girl who could hardly say hello.
Do you remember the first time you saw this audition? Tell us in the comments.
