In 2017, Evie Clair decided she wanted to try her luck auditioning for America’s Got Talent’s twelfth season. The 13-year-old girl had been singing for most of her life, and she was excited to get the chance to perform for Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, and Mel B.
Evie Clair began her audition by talking about her hometown of Florence, Arizona.
“There’s like five prisons there, and basically, there’s not even a grocery store. There’s a high school and a fast food place and that’s it,” she said as the audience laughed.
Then, Evie explained why her family lived in Florence. And that’s when her audition began getting incredibly emotional.
Evie said that her dad worked at one of the prisons. As she talked about her dad, she started tearing up. She explained that he was battling stage four colon cancer, and she was auditioning for America’s Got Talent for him.
Backstage, Evie’s parents teared up. They were both touched by their daughter’s tribute to her father.
The judges gave Evie a moment to take a breath before she began singing. Simon also commended the young girl on her bravery.
Once Evie was ready, Simon asked her about the song she chose. She said she picked “Arms” by Christina Perri, and then she explained why:
“When my dad is having rough days, then I go up to his room and sing him this song to help him feel better, and just to give him comfort.”
Evie began her audition, and she sang the song beautifully.
Everyone in the audience and the judges were all touched by Evie’s performance. They all decided to send her to the next round.
Evie also got a shout-out from Christina Perri herself on Twitter. Evie was so excited that her idol was talking about her performance!
“That was so crazy. We invited friends over to watch my episode and it aired earlier for her. So, she had already seen it and I hadn’t seen the episode yet. So, when she tweeted that out, it was right before I was gonna be on. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you guys, Christina Perri just tweeted me!’ And they were like ‘Wow, that’s crazy!’” Evie told AXS.
THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL 😭🙏🏼❤️ https://t.co/OgXi36iOJ0
— christina perri (@christinaperri) June 21, 2017
Evie continued doing well in the competition, moving forward round after round. Unfortunately, though, her dad got sicker, and he was unable to accompany Evie to the show. Evie shared a heartwarming video of her dad watching her first live performance on her YouTube page.
Sadly, Evie’s father passed away the day before the AGT finals on September 8, 2017. The judges asked Evie if she would like to leave and come back for the thirteenth season. But Evie decided to stay and perform in the finals.
She dedicated her beautiful performance to her dad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb7A65Ua40Y
Evie is an incredible singer-songwriter who has performed through some of the hardest times of her life. If you want to see her beautiful audition, check out the video below.
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