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America’s Got Talent: Howie Mandel gives Golden Buzzer to Maddie Baez

Maddie Baez and her dad on America's Got Talent
Maddie Baez and her dad on America’s Got Talent. Pic credit: NBC

One of the best things about watching America’s Got Talent is seeing touching stories.

That happened this week when one contestant was planted in the audience and the judges weren’t told.

The singer was Maddie Baez and she had the entire audience in tears by the end of her performance. To cap it off, Howie Mandel awarded her with a golden buzzer.

Here is how it all went down.

Maddie Baez blows fans away on America’s Got Talent

Maddie Baez started off her time on America’s Got Talent by waiting backstage for her audition to start. However, the producers decided to play around with her audition and they didn’t tell the judges.

Maddie, 11, had watched America’s Got Talent her entire life and wanted to audition for years. She said she had been in the audience for past seasons and this was her dream.

During the commercial breaks, fans in the audience are given a chance to sing, which humorously causes Simon Cowell to leave and go backstage during this time.

After hearing one guy sing, it was Maddie’s turn.

She then belted out an amazing version of Amazing Grace. Howie Mandel turned and searched her out and Simon walked back out to see what was happening.

Simon, shocked at her voice, invited her up to talk to him. He then invited her to go on the stage and audition for the show.

“We do ask people in the breaks if they’d like to sing a song and I was literally just coming back in and I heard this voice, thinking, ‘Who the hell is that?’” Simon said. “And then I see this little thing in the audience and it’s you.”

Maddie gets Golden Buzzer after singing Amazing Grace on America’s Got Talent

Maddie did and she was amazing. They even asked her to sing the rest of the song after she finished the first chorus and verse. She did it with no background music.

After her performance, Maddie was asked about her life and said she was singing to honor her dad, who was in the audience. When Howie asked what she would do with the $1 million prize money, she was quick to answer.

“I would help my dad with cancer research. He’s had stage four colon cancer for the past nine years,” Maddie said, tears flowing from her eyes.

Simon said, let’s vote and he said yes. The crowd started chanting “Golden Buzzer” and Howie stood and walked over and slammed it, awarding Maddie with the Golden Buzzer as the tears continued to flow.

Her dad then joined her on the stage. When asked about his daughter, he said that Maddie learned to sing by singing to him while he was getting cancer treatment and recovering. It was her way of trying to make him feel better.

Maddie Baez joins Avery Dixon, who received Terry Crews’ golden buzzer last week.

America’s Got Talent airs on Tuesday nights at 8/7c on NBC.

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