Lavender Darcangelo impresses ‘America’s Got Talent’

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A musical performance on Tuesday’s America’s Got Talent earned one contestant high praise from judge Simon Cowell, not to mention a fast track to the show’s next round.

Lavender Darcangelo is a 27-year-old singer who took the stage with her dad. She said she’s been singing since she was three years old even though she didn’t talk until she was four-and-a-half, before adding, “I’m also autistic, as well as blind.”

Darcangelo went on to say that she’s on the show because she has “a lot of dreams,” one of which being that she wants to start a school with classes based on what students are naturally curious about.

“So, a school I would have thrived in,” she said.

Darcangelo also talked about how she was adopted later in life after meeting her dad, Will, at an after-school music program he started. She was later adopted by Will, who was on stage, and his husband Jamie, who was watching from the audience.

The singer then performed her version of a song made famous by Irene Cara in the movie Fame, “Out Here On My Own,” which was powerful and impressive and ultimately earned a standing ovation from everyone in the audience, along with all four judges.

After Darcangelo’s performance ended, Cowell was the first judge to give his reaction.

“That was sensational. Honestly, sensational," he said. “Everything about that was just magical, magical. You have such a talent. You have such an amazing personality. And you know what? We make the show because we get to meet people like you occasionally. And I am so happy that you've come on our show to share your talent with us, because this is an audition I'll never forget. It was amazing, amazing."

Judge Sofia Vergara called the song “spectacular” and “beautiful,” and said at one point she forgot she was judging and was just enjoying Darcangelo’s voice, while Howie Mandel called her “a dream come true.”

Then it was time for Heidi Klum’s assessment.

“I feel like I just fell in love,” she said. “This AGT journey is an amazing journey, and I would love to be your cheerleader and hold your hand all the way till the finish line.”

After Darcangelo’s performance ended, Cowell was the first judge to give his reaction.

“That was sensational. Honestly, sensational," he said. “Everything about that was just magical, magical. You have such a talent. You have such an amazing personality. And you know what? We make the show because we get to meet people like you occasionally. And I am so happy that you've come on our show to share your talent with us, because this is an audition I'll never forget. It was amazing, amazing."

Judge Sofia Vergara called the song “spectacular” and “beautiful,” and said at one point she forgot she was judging and was just enjoying Darcangelo’s voice, while Howie Mandel called her “a dream come true.”


While gold confetti fell from the rafters, tears fell for Darcangelo and her dads. Klum rushed on stage to celebrate, and host Terry Crews made his way out to finally ask Darcangelo how she was feeling.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know if this is a dream or if I’m really awake.”

Lavender is blind and autistic.
She opened up about her disabilities in a 2019 interview with GMA. “I felt like I was lonely in my life because I have multiple disabilities in my life being blind and autistic,” she said. “Sometimes having more than one disability can make you feel like you have a foot in all these different worlds, but you don’t feel like you have a home in them completely.” Lavender has become a disability advocate.

Lavender is a singer.
Lavender went viral after performing “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid during an LGBT cabaret performance at First Parish Church in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. She began singing before she could talk. “When I was alone at night in my room, I would daydream about singing on TV,” she told GMA. “[These daydreams] were like a coping mechanism, I guess, and I just loved doing it.”

Lavender was adopted.
Lavender joined a mentorship program that was founded by Wil Darcangelo. He became her singing coach. Wil and his husband, Jamie, went on to adopt Lavender in 2017. “They’ve taught me unconditional love and that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel,” she told GMAabout her adoptive dads.

Lavender is working on her debut album.
The singer is currently working on her debut solo album titled Mosaic according to her website. The album will feature a “wide variety of songs and musical styles” and “will honor and raise awareness of the diversity within the autism and disability community.”

Lavender hosted a virtual concert during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lavender led the free virtual concert in honor of Disability Awareness Month back in October 2020. She sang covers of hit songs and performed an original song called “Will I Ever,” according to AP.

On America's Got Talent's first Live Show performances on Tuesday night, Heidi Klum’s Golden Buzzer Lavender Darcangelo, who is blind and autistic, continued to be, well, golden. She closed the show with a performance of Foreigner’s "I Wanna Know What Love Is,” which she told Parade backstage after the performance that she dedicated to her boyfriend, who is also on the spectrum -- and she shone

Growing up Lavender had a lot of trust issues and felt unloved, so when her boyfriend began showing her gestures of love, she says it was hard for her to accept because it was scary.

“I knew that I was loved,” explains Lavender, who was adopted later in life by Wil Darcangelo and his husband, Jamie. “I think it was more like people wanted to include me in things, but they didn't know how because of my disability so they were afraid of doing the wrong thing, especially in school. It wasn't like I was bullied. It was more like people didn't know how, so I didn't have the best social life in school.”

When her boyfriend came into her life, one of the gestures he made was to introduce her to movies. That may not sound like much, but for Lavender it was a big deal.

“I have a hard time with movies,” she says. “He would break down the information, and really stop and pause the movie and explain everything even if it would take five hours for a 2-hour movie. The first time he did that, I actually bawled my eyes out because I didn't know what that was like as a person who was blind and autistic.”

Now that Lavender has made it through to the AGT finale, she has one more performance to win over America to earn the $1 million and the title.

“I have a feeling in mind,” she says of her next appearance. “I don't really have much of a song in mind as much as I have a feeling in mind that I want to express to the world. I just want the world to know: Guess what? The world was never against you. It was always waiting for you. It was just your beliefs that made you believe that the world was against you.

As for the $1 million prize, if she wins, she already has plans for it and they are very generous ones.

“The first thing I would do with the million dollars would be a school that I would have thrived in because I didn't do well in school at all. It would start off with play, and then let's say a kid is interested in some sort of rock that he finds on the ground, and then he naturally wants to learn a lot about geology and stuff, and then he figures out that in order to learn that he has to learn how to read, and so naturally, he wants to learn how to read. So, classes would be formed by kids’ natural curiosity rather than telling them, 'Oh, you have to read now.' It wouldn't be that they never learn how to read, it would be when something would inspire them to want to learn how to read. Like if they see a box of cereal lying around, they’re, 'Oh, I wonder what that is. I want to eat that, but I don't know what that says.'”