Connie Talbot
In 2007, an aspiring young singer stepped onto the stage of England’s enormously popular TV program Britain’s Got Talent, flashed an adorable gap-toothed smile and instantly won the heart of the notoriously difficult to please Simon Cowell – yes, that Simon Cowell – as well as the British viewing public. In just a couple of minutes, a true star had been born. What made this feat all the more remarkable was the fact that Connie Talbot was just six years old.
Connie was born on the November 20th, 2000. She currently attends a private school in her hometown near Birmingham, England. Connie lives with her mother Sharon, her father Gavin, and her older siblings, brother Josh and sister Mollie.
Connie began to sing “as soon as she could talk” and she spent many hours with her grandmother Violet (who was very ill at the time) watching the film The Wizard of Oz repeatedly and singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow together. Violet was the first person to recognize Connie as a talented singer, yet sadly she died before Connie became well known internationally. Connie sang Amazing Grace at her grandmother’s funeral.
Since that first appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, Connie has become an international phenomenon, with appearances all around the globe. She has accumulated millions upon millions of YouTube views and has attracted glowing media attention. Her debut album Over The Rainbow, recorded when she was still only six years old, won Gold in her home country the UK, and platinum/double platinum in several other countries. The Guinness Book of World Records certified Connie with two accolades… youngest artist in the UK ever to reach the charts and the youngest ever to receive a gold record.
In the fall of 2009, Connie released a holiday album in America, Connie Talbot’s Holiday Magic. It features Connie’s interpretation of holiday classics and fan favourites. In conjunction with the release of the Holiday Magic CD, Connie recorded a one hour television special, and a wide screen HD DVD of the show, consisting of all the songs plus one additional song and 3 bonus tracks, was released for public sale. Aged 8 at the time, Connie thus became the youngest artist ever to make an hour-long television special.
The Holiday Magic CD and television special capped off an incredibly prolific and successful year for the rising star. Connie was also named child ambassador for the 2009 Marine Toys for Tots campaign and donated part of the proceeds from CD sales in support of the worthy charity. Connie was the youngest ever ambassador for Toys For Tots.
In November 2010, Connie flew to South Korea, where she performed as the opening act for the spectacular Road To Hope concert. This event was to mark the opening of the G20 World Summit in Seoul. Connie’s performance was seen by all the world’s leaders. And it is certain that millions of people were watching live on the Internet. She made several other appearances in Korea, including an interview on the prestigious KBS Classical Radio Channel.
Early in 2011, Connie headed off to China to perform at the country’s New Year celebrations shown to an audience of more than 600 million on the Chinese Government television.
During the end of 2011 until March 2012, Connie participated at the Young Voices Concerts that toured the UK performing at major venues, including the grand O2 Arena in London. During the Young Voices tour she managed to break another Guinness World Record for the largest number of backing singers ever to accompany one lead vocalist at a public venue. She accomplished this with the help of 6031 children in the O2.
In 2011, Connie began piano lessons and incredibly within 10 weeks she posted on her YouTube channel a video of her singing and playing Adele’s Someone Like You. Connie’s YouTube videos have, in total, well over a hundred million views and the videos on her official channel are currently viewed over 100,000 times per day. Every 0.76 seconds somebody somewhere is starting to view one of Connie’s videos.
In April of 2012, Connie went to Los Angeles and recorded her first “pop” single, SAIL AWAY, which quickly rose to the #1 position on CDBaby’s Pop Single Chart.
In May 2012, she performed three concerts in Hong Kong and then it was back in L.A. to begin recording songs with the multi-platinum songwriter/producer and Grammy winner, Toby Gad. She even co-wrote two songs with Mr Gad.
In her spare time, Connie loves doing artwork, playing netball for her school team and playing with her now “YouTube famous” dog, Minty.
Connie Talbot is an English child singer from Streetly, West Midlands. She rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the final of the first series of Britain's Got Talent, where she was runner-up to Paul Potts.
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