“He’s Susan Boyle’s grandson?!” Simon Cowell’s jaw hit the floor as he burst into laughter and praise, hailing 23-year-old secondary school teacher Tom Ball as the true heir to Susan Boyle’s legacy after his electrifying rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 anthem The Sound of Silence on Britain’s Got Talent 2022! The soft-spoken West Sussex native stunned 4,000 audience members at the London Palladium with his haunting, velvety voice—so powerful it froze the room in silence before erupting into a standing ovation. X went wild with 2 million views and comments like, “Tom’s a vocal beast!” (@TalentShock25). With Simon crowning it “the best performance of the series,” could Tom be on track to outshine his rumored gran’s legendary rise?
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But since he didn’t win, Tom was eligible to compete in the 2023 season of America’s Got Talent, which is an “all-stars” competition: everyone there has done well in a previous version of one of the Got Talent franchise shows.
Tom chooses to sing Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence,” which we have all watched on video many times. That makes it a bit of a risk because there are some versions, like the one by Disturbed, that have become iconic. But Tom’s risky move pays off in spades as the entire audience, especially the judges, loves the performance. Watch the full video below and please leave us a Facebook comment to let us know what you thought!
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