British girl who could hit $1m high note in US … aged only 14
SHE is a shy schoolgirl from a County Durham pit village who paid for singing lessons by busking on the street.
And the hard work has paid off for 14-year-old Courtney Hadwin in the most unexpected way.
The teenager has taken the US by storm on America’s Got Talent – and looks set to return from Los Angeles with millions of new fans.
A storming run to last night’s live final of the Simon Cowell show saw her stun audiences with renditions of soul songs and draw comparisons to Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.
Speaking before the show her mother Annmarie, who stayed in Britain to look after Courtney’s siblings, said: ‘We’ve told her to relax. We are really proud of her. What happens now will happen.’
The winner receives $1million – but asked what she would do if it was hers, level-headed Courtney said: ‘I’d probably just spoil my dog Teddy and put the rest into my music and hopefully some original songs. I definitely want to start working on my own music.’
Cowell is expected to offer her a record deal and she is tipped for worldwide stardom.
It is a far cry from her modest upbringing in a terrace house in Hesleden, near Hartlepool. She lives in the tiny former pit village with delivery driver father Paul, 32, stayat-home mother Annmarie, 31, and her two younger siblings.
Courtney paid for singing lessons by busking, using the money to contribute to her father’s petrol costs as he drove her to gigs and busking patches in London and the North-East.
In March she told friends she had a stomach bug when she missed school to fly to Los Angeles for the show’s auditions. Footage of her first performance – Otis Redding’s Hard To Handle – went viral and she has been met with universal praise ever since.
After she sang Born To Be Wild in the semi-final, judge Howie Mandel said: ‘I smell a million dollars. You were amazing. My prediction is you’re going to be the winner.’