Weโve all heard the saying, โdonโt judge a book by its cover.โ While itโs looked at as a clichรฉ, thereโs a reason why itโs an extremely important motto to live by.
Itโs impossible to judge someone purely based off of how they look. They can seem put-together while falling apart on the inside, or the opposite. They might not look so โpromisingโ on the outside in certain peopleโs eyes, but have a heart of gold and real, genuine talent.
The now-famous Kevin Skinner is a perfect example of the latter.
The aspiring singer entered his Americaโs Got Talent audition with a seemingly-good amount of confidence. That is until the judges kind of tore him apart.
When entering the stage, which you can watch in the video below, judge Piers Morgan rolled his eyes just 10 seconds in, and co-judge Sharon Osbourne could not help but laugh every time Skinner spoke.
Why were they being rude towards him? Because with his backward baseball cap and hippie-style hood, he was perceived as a โhillbilly.โ
The Kentucky-based singer introduced himself, โI was a chicken catcher for several years,โ he shared to a crowd that could not stop laughing. โIโm not real good at mathโฆ We caught about 60,o00 in one night. One person caught 8 at a time,โ he joked when David Hasselhoff asked how many chickens he caught.
Soon after, he burst into a rendition of โIf Tomorrow Never Comesโ by Garth Brooks. And guess what? It was pretty much perfect.
He crooned with a stunning falsetto and played not a note out of place.
Piersโ reaction after his performance was the best: โThereโs a moment in every season, I can remember them all, when somebody comes on stage dressed like you are. Your capโs on the wrong way around and weโre all like โthis is going to be a total car crash.โ And then you start to sing and within about 20 seconds, you had me. And by the end of it that was one of the most emotional, powerful performances Iโve seen in a long time.โ
Osbourne added, โI thought you were going to be really hoaky and silly, but youโre really not. I can tell youโre a lovely person. Youโre a very genuine man.โ
With all the judges completely moved, Skinner received a โyesโ from all three judges and his reaction? He began to cry with overpowering joy and emotions.
Throughout the show, AGT seemed to give Skinner a bit of a makeover. Now he was a true cowboy king.
โYou have an ability to move an audience in a way I have never seen on this show before. You sing from the heart and soul with real emotion. And itโs hard to believe sometimes that you are a chicken farmer from Kentucky,โ Piers Morgan said to Skinner after his semi-finals performance.
Who would have thought, after seeing the way the judges reacted to him initially, that Skinner would end up winning the entire competition?
After winning, he received a $1 million prize as well as a headline show in Las Vegas which was hosted by Jerry Springer.
In 2010, he released his debut album Long Ride.
In the โNLR Rockumenaryโ below, Skinner goes more in depth about his newfound fame and success, and how his life changed after winning the show.
โI try not to set any boundaries. Iโm a songwriter and I like to write real music and I believe people like to hear real music. As long as I can keep writing and the good Lord blesses me, I donโt put any boundaries on that,โ he said when asked about what he hopes for in the future.
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