Mother gives up Britain’s Got Talent audition so ‘incredible’ daughter can sing

Tia Connolly received a standing ovation after singing I Didn’t Know My Own Strength by Whitney Houston.
BGT judge Alesha Dixon (Ian West/PA)
PA Wire
Ellie Iorizzo22 April 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

The latest episode of Britain’s Got Talent saw a mother surprise her 15-year-old daughter by giving up her audition spot so that she could sing.

Schoolgirl Tia Connolly sang I Didn’t Know My Own Strength by Whitney Houston, a song she said helped her get through times when she was bullied “for the colour of my skin”.

Judge Amanda Holden said she “absolutely smashed it” and has a “massive career” ahead of her, while Bruno Tonioli said she had an “incredible quality because you were singing from your soul”.

Her audition came after her 33-year-old mother from Liverpool took to the stage to tell the judges that she had arranged a set-up, with her daughter thinking she had come to watch.

She said: “She thinks it’s me who’s auditioning. She’s got me through some very hard times in my life and I feel like I owe her, so I’m giving my audition up for my daughter.

“This is my way of saying she’s fabulous because she deserves it and she’s an incredible person.”

Following Tia’s audition, Simon Cowell said: “That’s how you do it.”

He added: “I really love moments like this, you didn’t know you were going to audition, your mum set you up, I’ll just sing Whitney Houston then, like it’s normal.

“That’s very sweet what you did for your daughter because I’m guessing without you doing that she wouldn’t have auditioned. I absolutely loved this audition.”

The episode also saw judge Alesha Dixon press the golden buzzer for Chickenshed theatre group who performed a singing and dancing routine to Wonder by Naughty Boy featuring Emeli Sande.

Struggling to hold back her tears, Dixon said sending the group through to the live semi-finals was an “honour” as they pride themselves on inclusivity and celebrating young people.

She said: “I love every single thing that you stand for and that you represent, inclusivity is so important, everybody feeling represented, and you do that in abundance.

“You’re giving young people this incredible opportunity and platform and honestly, I don’t know what else is more important than that.”

Cowell said: “I’ve known about Chickenshed for a long time and I’ve always wondered when is the year you’re going to come on Britain’s Got Talent and this performance summed up everything you do.

“This really, really, really, really is a golden buzzer audition, that’s what it is for.”

The episode also included a 61-year-old chef Giorgio Riggio performing a pizza spinning routine, comedian Tonikaku, 40, with a series of naked poses and 33-year-old illusionist Enzo Weyne performing a transportation illusion with a chair.

Britain’s Got Talent continues on ITV1 and STV.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in