This golden-voiced youngster uses his autism as a superpower to fearlessly sing in front of audiences.
This boy sang a Jackson 5 hit in the aisle of an Asda store. His mom recorded it, his aunt posted it, and now he’s a recording artist. With a voice like this, it’s no wonder he went on to wow the judges at “Britain’s Got Talent,”.
This little guy with power pipes is Britain’s own Calum Courtney. And at ten years old he is a show stopper. He stopped shoppers when he decided to sing in the store too!
This guy actually likes it when crowds gather to watch. His form of autism takes away any performance anxiety, so he can step up anywhere and sing.
Basildon, Essex must be really impressed with their very own. Mom is surely super proud of her son considering the obstacles he has to overcome.
The way his mom spins his autism with positivity is such an empowering way to approach his personal challenges.
“Calum has high functioning autism,” his mother told Independent. “For Calum this means blurred social boundaries, struggles with school and difficulties with friendships, but also that enables him to have no fear to get up and belt out a song. We describe his autism to him as a superpower, it may take a little from other areas of life but it’s given him the superpower of music.”
Calum loves having an audience.
“He loves how it feels and hearing the sound of his voice when he sings. He is always singing around the house and performing in public has never been a problem. The more people, the better for Calum when he is performing.” Calum’s mum says.
Before the video went viral, Calum didn’t really notice how good his singing was.
“He did not realize how good he was until he saw the video, he said: ‘Mum, I’m actually really good.'” Mum tells Independent.
“Who’s Loving You” was written by Smokey Robinson for his group The Miracles.
The Jackson 5 performed the song on the Ed Sullivan show with an eleven-year-old Michael Jackson singing.
Michael Jackson told the audience beforehand that even though he’s a kid he knows about the blues. He would tell a story about meeting and falling in love with a girl in the sandbox. The crowd loved it.
It’s hard not to compare Calum with Michael, with both being so young and having such soulful voices. Michael Jackson became a pop music icon, and Calum might be on his way. He drew a crowd, didn’t he?
“I do not think people thought that it was Calum singing at first and it was just the music in the shop.” says Mum.
The video was supposed to be for his dad only until Calum’s Aunt posted it to Facebook. Then it went viral and Calum landed a spot on “Britain’s Got Talent.”
Simon Cowell couldn’t help but smile when Calum began to sing. And yes, it was a standing ovation.
After this video went viral, Calum was offered a recording contract to record a single for charity.
He placed ninth overall in that year’s BGT contest, and his final performance was said to be “through the roof,” by judge Amanda Louise Holden.
And what is Calum going to do with all this fame and fortune?
“He thinks he’s gonna be able to buy a mansion,” says Mum, “He has a bit of an obsession with building them on Minecraft.”
He’s turned his autism into a superpower inspiring many others out there. Check out Calum Courtney in the video below!
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