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"O Mio Babbino Caro" - Jackie Evancho
(from June 2011 album Dream with Me,
Aug. 10, 2010, first audition on America's Got Talent)
old classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho auditioned for the TV
show America's Got Talent and stunned the audience and judges with her
performance of the Italian song "O Mio Babbino Caro" ("Oh My Dear Daddy").
Jackie's 2nd-place finish in the fifth season of the nationally broadcast talent
competition turned her into a star. With millions buzzing about Jackie, the season
finale of America's Got Talent became the most watched in the program's history.
From the age of 8 when she started singing,
soprano prodigy
Jackie Evancho
exhibited the maturity
and vocal prowess of
a veteran opera diva.
In the years since,
Jackie has issued a
platinum-selling EP
and eight albums,
including three
Billboard 200 top 10
debuts. Jackie was
only 9 when she was
invited to sing the
national anthem at
a Pittsburgh Pirates
baseball game.
In this tribute, I am
proud to present a few
of Jackie's outstanding
vocal performances.
With the 2010 holiday release of her EP O Holy Night, Jackie became the
best-selling debut artist of 2010, the youngest top-10 debut artist in
US history and the youngest solo artist ever to go platinum in the US.
Here now is Jackie Evancho with a familiar sound of the season, performing
a song from O Holy Night. the traditional Christmas carol "Silent Night."
"Silent Night" - Jackie Evancho
(Christmas 2010, from Nov. 2010 EP O Holy Night)
In 2011, Jackie's first full-length album, Dream With Me, debuted at No. 2 on
the Billboard 200 chart, and she became the youngest top-5 debut artist in
UK history. Billboard ranked Jackie the top Classical Albums Artist of 2011.
Jackie has starred in three solo PBS concert specials. She was just turning 11
when she became the youngest solo artist ever to headline a special on the
PBS Great Performances series. The concert was taped in April, 2011,
at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida,
and was co-hosted by Canadian musician, composer, arranger,
record producer and music executive David Foster, who
played piano in the orchestra on several selections.
"The Lord's Prayer" - Jackie Evancho
(from June 2011 album Dream with Me, April, 2011, live perf. on
Dream With Me In Concert, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL)
In 2012, Jackie was honored by the Senator John Heinz History Center at its
20th Annual History Makers Award Dinner as one of five "distinguished
Pittsburghers recognized for their exceptional contributions to the
history of Western Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world."
Jackie was the youngest person ever to be so honored.
Here, rivaling the "Unforgettable' virtual duet of Nat King Cole and
daughter Natalie Cole, are Jackie Evancho and Barbra Streisand,
a virtual duet in which they perform a song from Barbra's 1985
The Broadway Album, a hit from the 1957 Broadway musical
West Side Story. Experience the magic as Jackie Evancho and
Barbra Streisand sing "Somewhere (There's a Place for Us)."
"Somewhere" - Jackie Evancho & Barbra Streisand
(from June 2011 album Dream with Me, live perf.
April, 2011, on Dream With Me In Concert filmed
at Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida)
Jackie appeared on the National League of Junior Cotillions' list of
"Ten Best-Mannered People of 2011" for "demonstrating humility
and politeness as a young performer" Here again is Jackie in her
PBS special at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota performing
the title song from her 2011 album Dream With Me.
"Dream With Me" - Jackie Evancho
(from June 2011 album Dream With Me, April, 2011, live perf. on
Dream With Me In Concert, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL)
In November, 2011, Jackie Evancho released a full-length holiday album
Heavenly Christmas and became the youngest person ever to give a solo
concert at Lincoln Center in New York City as part of her first concert tour.
"I'll Be Home For Christmas" - Jackie Evancho
(Christmas 2011, from Nov. 2011 album Heavenly Christmas)
Every year since 2011, Quest Talent Search has given an annual
"Jackie Evancho Award" to a contestant who "exemplifies courage
and motivation and pushes through to follow their dreams."
In both 2011 and 2012, Billboard Magazine named Jackie to its list
of "21 Under 21: Music's Hottest Minors." In 2017, Jackie was
named to the "2018" Forbes 30 Under 30 list of musicians.
To keep us in the spirit of the season, here's Jackie with a
cover of Josh Groban's "Believe," a single that topped the
Easy Listening chart during the holiday season in 2004.
"Believe" - Jackie Evancho
(Christmas 2011, from Nov. 2011 album Heavenly Christmas)
To close the show, Jackie once again gives her finest gift, the gift
that keeps on giving, the gift of song, as she sings another song
from her 2011 Heavenly Christmas album-- "The First Noel."
"The First Noel" - Jackie Evancho
(Christmas 2011, from Nov. 2011 album Heavenly Christmas)
I hope you enjoyed meeting, watching and listening to Jackie Evancho,
a child with the voice of an angel, the Deanna Durbin of the 21st century.
Meanwhile, I'm still learning to
wave bye-bye, still spending
hours picking lint out of my
belly button, still sitting on
the sofa all day long in my
Woody Woodpecker trap-
door pajamas binge-
watching Beavis
and Butt-Head
and munching
Froot Loops.
Mama's proud!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
