9-year-old Filipina wows America’s Got Talent judges
Filipino-American Angelica Hale has won the hearts of the reality talent show America’s Got Talent after belting out Andra Day’s “Rise Up” on Tuesday.
“This shouldn’t happen — you’re tiny,” quipped Simon Cowell. “You’re voice is huge. You are absolutely brilliant. I have a feeling we’re looking at a future star,” added the record producer and television personality.
Judge Howie Mandel also commented saying: “I predict that all of your dreams are going to come true.”
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The performance earned Angelica Hale a standing ovation from the four judges. But even before she delivered a stunning show at AGT, this 9-year-old is no stranger to spotlight and huge crowd. She has been invited to perform in different events in the US, including the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital to raise awareness and funds, as well as in Miss America 2017 and the US Open in 2015 among others.
According to her father, Angelica’s passion is singing. She plans to use her talent “to help and inspire others, especially children in need.”
“It’s her dream to become a singer. Her being here today is a miracle,” her father James said on America’s Got Talent.
Angelica started to show talent in singing when she was just 2 years old. However, something terrible happened to her.
“Five years ago, we never imagined that she would be here today. When Angelica was 4 years old, she started coughing and having fever. We brought her to the emergency room and that’s when we found out that she had double pneumonia and her kidney stopped working,” her father James said on AGT.
The little kid was in the hospital for 80 days and spent another 6 weeks at the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU).
“What saved her life is she got a kidney transplant from her mother,” her father added.
Angelica will advance to the next round. She said she’s been training really hard. “Everything has to be better,” she said.
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