HOLLYWOOD, California, June 8, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — In a show-stopping, standing-ovation performance Tuesday, deaf singer-songwriter Mandy Harvey wowed the audience and the judges on America's Got Talent.
Despite losing residual hearing 10 years ago, Mandy's pitch-perfect performance won not only her place on the show but Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer, which means she will ascend immediately to the live AGT shows.
Mandy, who is 29, was a vocal music education major at Colorado State University when she “got sick” with a connective tissue disorder that destroyed the nerve endings in her ears.
“I've been singing since I was 4,” she told Cowell and the other AGT judges. “I left music after I lost my hearing and then figured out how to get back into singing with muscle memory, using visual tuners and trusting my pitch.”
She gave up music and her hopes to be a choral conductor. Yet in her despair, she never gave up her faith in Jesus Christ. “I don't think I would have survived it if I hadn't (had faith),” she explained.
Something the mainstream media aren't covering is that Mandy is an outspoken Christian. She writes worship songs, such as the highly inspirational “It Is Well.”
“Let it go my soul, and trust in Him; the waves and wind still know His Name,” she sings in clear, resonant tones.
Mandy attributes her faith in Jesus Christ to getting her through the loss of her sense of hearing. “I didn't know who I was, I didn't know how to communicate with people, I didn't want to look at people, I didn't want to leave my room. I shut myself off from the world. And the only thing I couldn't shut myself off from is God, and communication there. I certainly tried. I was angry enough that I stopped talking to Him, but I never lost my faith.”
Singing since she was four years old allows Mandy to sense her vocal muscles to keep her pitch. She takes her shoes off so she can literally feel the rhythm and beat of a song with her feet through the floor.
In introducing her AGT performance, Mandy explained that she wrote a song to inspire herself through her deafening ordeal. “After I lost my hearing I gave up, but I wanted to do more with my life that just give up,” she said.
She then sang,
I don't feel the way I used to
The sky is gray much more than it is blue
But I know one day I'll get through
And I'll take my place again
So I will try, I will try, I will tryI don't love the way I need to
You need more and I know that much is true
So I'll fight for our breakthrough
And I'll breathe in you again
If I would try, I will try, I will tryThere is no one for me to blame
cause I know the only thing in my way is meI don't live the way I want to
That whole picture never came into view
And I'm tired of getting used to
The Day
So I will try
The entire crowd leapt to their feet cheering before Mandy could even finish her song. Judges Cowell, Heidi Klum, Mel B and Howie Mandel stood halfway through Mandy's performance wide-eyed, dumbfounded, and amazed.
“I've done this a long time. That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and heard,” Cowell commented after Mandy's performance.
“Honestly, I never think I’m gonna be surprised or amazed by people, and then you turn up,” he said to Mandy on stage. “Just the fact that you are you, but it was your voice, your tone, the song was beautiful.”