About
In 2007, an aspiring singer stepped onto the stage of England's enormously popular TV program Britain's Got Talent, flashed an adorable gap-toothed smile and instantly won the heart of the notoriously crusty Simon Cowell - yes, that Simon Cowell - as well as the British viewing public . In just a couple of minutes, a true star had been born. What made this feat all the more remarkable was the fact that Connie Talbot was just six years old.
Connie was born on the November 20th 2000. She currently attends a state primary school. Connie lives with her mother, Sharon, her father Gavin, a self-employed property maintenance engineer, and her older siblings, brother Josh and sister Mollie.
Connie began to sing "as soon as she could talk" and she spent many hours with her grandmother Violet who was very ill at the time. The two of them would watch the film The Wizard Of OZ repeatedly and they would sing together. Violet was the first person to recognise Connie as a great singer yet sadly she died before Connie became an international sensation. Connie sang Amazing Grace at her grandmother's funeral. No subsequent performance would ever be more challenging and perhaps this is the reason that she was able to walk on to the stage without any nerves to sing in front of Simon Cowell and the whole nation. Since then this young lady has become an international phenomenon, with appearances all around the globe, millions of YouTube views, glowing media coverage and a massive album sales.
The Connie Talbot phenomenon continued to skyrocket not only in the UK, where the 2007 album Over the Rainbow went gold in just three weeks, but across Europe and Asia and also in the USA.
2008 and in America Connie's album reached the #7 spot on the Heatseakers chart in Billboard Magazine and the single Three Little Birds reached the #1 spot on the Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart. Later in the year Connie released Connie Talbot's Christmas Album for which the engineers came to Connie's house and set up a special bedroom studio.
The Guinness Book of World Records certified Connie with two accolades. The new reigning champion in the categories of youngest artist in the UK ever to reach the charts and the youngest ever to receive a gold record.
In early summer of 2009 Connie announced she would be releasing a holiday themed album in America and in the fall came the CD Connie Talbot's Holiday Magic. It features Connie's interpretation on holiday classics and fan favourites.
In conjunction with the release of the Holiday Magic CD, Connie recorded a one hour television special in September at WVIA Public Media Studios. A wide screen high definition DVD of the show consisting of all the songs plus one additional song and 3 bonus tracks was released for public sale. Aged 8 at the time this was to make Connie the youngest ever artist to make an hour long television special.
The Holiday Magic CD and television special capped off an incredibly prolific and successful year for the rising star. Connie was also named child ambassador for the 2009 Marine Toys for Tots campaign and donated part of the proceeds from CD sales in support of the worthy charity. Connie was the youngest ever ambassador for Toys For Tots.
In July 2010 Connie performed at the Mayor Charity Gala in Walsall. Here she helped raise money for Walsall Hospice to move that much closer to achieving its target of £1.5 million. Connie sang seven songs, two of which were new to her repertoire. These were One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston and Hero.
Everyone who knows Connie is aware that she is always ready to use her fantastic talents to help support charities. In October 2010, she was on the bill at two charity concerts in the UK. The first was the annual Pop 4 Diabetes event held in Bournemouth. Many in the audience were moved to tears when Connie sang her signature tune Over The Rainbow while the main screen showed a video depicting one person's struggle against the disease.
Two days later, she was in Wolverhampton as an invited guest of the Wolverhampton Orpheus Male Voice Choir. At this concert, Connie established a wonderful rapport with the audience that consisted mainly of people from an older generation. They were in awe of this young girl. Connie is almost unique in the world, in that her music appeals to all ages, from babies to pensioners.
Connie jetted off to South Korea for her next engagement in early November 2010. This one was probably her biggest gig to date, because she performed as the opening act for the spectacular Road To Hope concert. This event was to mark the opening of the G20 world summit in Seoul. It is likely that Connie's performance was seen by all the world's leaders. And it is certain that millions of people were watching live on the internet. Many of them had not yet fallen under Connie's spell, but you can bet they probably have now. She made several other appearances in Korea, including an interview on the prestigious KBS Classical Radio Channel.
In December 2010, Connie sang alongside the children of the Wilkinson Primary School at Bilston Town hall to help them raise more funds. The funds were used to rebuild the school that was burned down a few weeks earlier.
Early 2011 Connie jetted off to China to perform in front of an audience of more than 600 million at the country's New Year celebrations, that has been shown on the Chinese Government television. Connie had the opportunity to sing alongside other famous artists like Lin Yu Chun who also joined the recordings for this New Year celebration.
On March 5th 2011 Connie was present during the Joseph Foote Charity Ball, that took place in the Metropole Hotel in Birmingham. During the evening Connie sang When You Believe, Hero, Footprints in the Sand and a stunning acapella version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in Eva Cassidy style. Thanks to all the donations and auctions they managed to raise over £150,000 during that evening.
During the end of 2011 till March 2012 Connie participated at the Young Voices Concerts that went across the UK with several famous venues including the grand O2 Arena in London. During the Young Voices tour she managed to break a Guiness World Record on March 6 to become the largest number of backing singers ever to accompany one lead vocalist at a public venue. She accomplished this with the help of 8000 children in the O2 Arena in London.
In addition to the performances above, Connie has appeared at numerous other events such as store openings and switching on Christmas lights. Connie seems quite happy to appear on the big stage to audiences of hundreds of millions, or to join in on karaoke night when on a night out with her family.
In 2011 Connie began piano lessons and incredibly within 10 weeks she posted on her YouTube channel a video of her singing and playing Adele's Someone Like You. Soon after she took her first piano exam (Grade 1) with distinction and a mark of 94%.
Connie's YouTube videos have in total over a hundred million views and the videos her official channel is currently viewed over 100,000 times per day. Every 0.76 seconds somebody somewhere is starting to view one of Connie's videos.
Connie was given a puppy by her parents and she named him Minty. Minty is a West Highland Terrier and he appears in many of her photographs and videos.
In her spare time Connie loves playing Netball and plays for her school team in the position of Goal Attack. She also loves to create items of art. In particular she enjoys pyrography which is a method of creating art by burning on wood.
There is probably no better tribute to Connie's wonderful nature that her insistence that she does not have 'fans'. She prefers to call people her 'friends', and more than any international celebrity she maintains a very close relationship with everyone through her involvement in her online forum and regular twitter updates. Whilst everyone marvels at Connie's wonderful voice, perhaps it is her incredible personality that inspires the most. Everyone who has met Connie has experienced her lovely nature. In particular Connie's voice and personality have brought comfort and strength to many people in need of inspiration.
It is impossible to fully appreciate Connie's character without understanding the wonderful loving environment that she enjoys at home with her family. Whilst you might expect a young star to be the product of 'pushy' parents you soon realise that Connie is supported in whatever she chooses to do by the incredible love of a close and caring family.
*This is not Connie Talbot's official web. Connie Talbot's official web : http://www.connietalbot.com
