Courtney Hadwin is an English singer-songwriter. She rose to fame by competing prominently on the first season of ITV's The Voice Kids UK 2017 and the 13th season of the NBC competition show America's Got Talent the following year.
Early and personal life
She lives in Hesleden, England, with her parents, younger sister Melissa, and younger brother Paul. She attended Hesleden Primary School and until autumn 2018 studied at The Academy at Shotton Hall in Peterlee. She has also trained at Shotton Hall Theatre School, Peanuts Master Classes, Kate Sirs School of Music and Julie Miles' Vocal Ovation.
Hadwin was a 2018 finalist on TV's America's Got Talent. She previously appeared on the first series of The Voice Kids in the UK and afterwards on America's Got Talent: The Champions.
Career
Early performances
In April 2015, Hadwin auditioned for her first singing competition at TeenStar in Newcastle, England, with her version of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love", and reached the competition's grand final. She also gained notice when she was filmed performing Great Big World and Christina Aguilera's soaring duet "Say Something" in September 2015. In April 2016, she won Hartlepool's Performer of the Year Award, and was a finalist in the Beyond The Lights award ceremony. She was the opening act for Sister Sledge at a South Tyneside Festival concert in July 2017, where she sang for more than 18,000 people. In January 2018, she sang in Southampton at an event for U-Support, raising funds for children with life-limiting illnesses and disabilities.
2017: The Voice Kids UK
Hadwin blind-auditioned for The Voice Kids UK, where she performed Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits". She was picked by Judge Danny Jones, who became her mentor on the show. During the battle round, she performed "Dancing in the Street" against Eboni Green and Hollie Firmin. For her semi-final performance, she sang James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)". For her final performance on 16 July 2017, she sang the torch song "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, before being eliminated as a finalist.
2018–2019: America's Got Talent
In her audition for the 13th season of America's Got Talent, Hadwin sang Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle". The performance inspired judge Howie Mandel to give her a Golden Buzzer, sending her straight to the live shows. Mandel compared Hadwin's singing to Janis Joplin. The audition video received more than 50 million views on AGTs YouTube channel in its first five months. Hadwin returned for AGT's quarter-finals on 14 August 2018, singing "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" by James Brown. When introducing Hadwin to the live TV audience for the quarter-finals, host Tyra Banks announced that Hadwin's audition had been viewed more than 200 million times. For her semi-final performance on 11 September, she sang "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, then returned for the final show on 18 September to perform Tina Turner's "River Deep – Mountain High". Considerable controversy arose on the Internet about Hadwin's "hidden" prior experience on The Voice Kids UK in 2017, and about whether or not Hadwin was as shy and bashful as she first appeared at her audition. Family, school teachers, and friends came to her defense, affirming her shyness throughout her childhood, and many pointed out that other contestants also had prior contest experience before appearing on AGT/BGT. On the results show on 19 September, she sang "Piece of My Heart" with rock band The Struts. Although she failed to win AGT's grand prize, she went on to Las Vegas to do five live shows with winner Shin Lim at the Paris Hotel and Casino from 2–4 November 2018.
In December 2018, Hadwin signed a record deal with Syco Music and Arista Records.
In January 2019, Hadwin appeared as a contestant on NBC's America's Got Talent: The Champions, where she performed her first original song, "Pretty Little Thing". She has been named as one of the 50 top contestants in all the AGT shows across 194 countries.