20-year-old Alex Sampson gets four yeses for his ‘AGT audition of his original song ‘Pretty Baby’ that Simon Cowell says sounds like something from the ’50s or ’60s.
There is no shortage of singers auditioning for America’s Got Talent each season and Season 19 has had no shortage of songbirds this season with three so far earning the Golden Buzzer, taking them straight to the Live Shows: 9-year-old singer Pranysqa Mishra from Tampa, Fla., who won over Heidi Klum with her performance of Tina Turner’s “River Deep Mountain High;” Chicago rock-soul-R&B singer Liv Warfield, who won Simon Cowell‘s AGT Golden Buzzer with the original song “Stare;” and 55-year-old Richard Goodall, a janitor from Terra Haute, Ind., who sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, and got Heidi’s second Golden Buzzer.
What makes 20-year-old singer/songwriter Alex Sampson stand out from other auditioners is his original song, “Pretty Baby,” which took both Howie Mandel and Simon back to another era, the ‘50s or ‘60s.
“It took me a minute to adjust because you are a young guy, you’re 20 years old,” Howie told Alex after hearing him perform. “Your voice reminded me of the lead singer from Herman’s Hermits [Peter Noone]. Have you ever heard of him?”
Alex hadn’t, so Howie went on, “But I love that. It’s kind of retro and nobody’s doing that now, so not only is it good, I think you’re creating something that doesn’t exist right now.”
Simon was on the same page as Howie, telling Alex, “For me, I thought this song could have been written in the ‘50s or ‘60s, which I thought was really smart actually. It’s the kind of song you would hear in a Martin Scorsese movie in that era. It was very authentic. It was very different. If this is the lane you want to go down, I think it’s very smart because you separate yourself from what everybody else is doing. So, I really, really liked this audition.”
Alex was very nervous prior to his performance. As he joked with the judges, there were more people in the AGT audience than there were in his hometown of Atikokan, Ontario, Canada.
Alex Sampson
Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC
Sofia Vergara commented, “That was beautiful. There’s something about you, your presence, you said you were nervous but no, it didn’t feel like you were nervous when you started singing.”
Alex responded, “My legs are like [shakes them to show they’re like jelly] but I’m glad you didn’t notice.”
Sofia continued, “No, no, no, no, it was great. It was really cool what you just did. I think it was a great audition. Congratulations.”
And Heidi said, “I could hear how nervous you were. It made you more real in a way. We can hear that you can sing so it didn’t bother me. I also loved the vibe and I’m here for it.”
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Streams next day on Peacock.
