Violinist Gabriella Laberge Keeps Simon Cowell From Hitting Red Buzzer on ‘AGT’
Trae Patton/NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
Gabriela Laberge, a French Canadian from Montréal, performed “Goodbye My Lover” by James Blunt for her AGT audition. The violinist and singer was able to keep Simon Cowell from hitting his red buzzer. She enchanted him with her stunning voice. Gabriella’s audition has come as one of the biggest surprises of Season 16.
‘AGT’ Violinist Gabriella Laberge Captures Simon Cowell’s Attention During Season 16 Audition
Gabriella grew up watching AGT every week. She never expected to find herself on the world’s biggest stage ready to perform for the judges. Her biggest dream is to do music for the rest of her life. The AGT stage is a great place to make this dream happen. She started off her performance playing the violin. Cowell raised his hand above his red buzzer just seconds into the performance. Everything changed once Gabriella began to sing.
Gabriella’s angelic voice managed to put a smile back on Cowell’s face. He looked like he was captivated by Gabriella’s soft tone. All of the judges gave Gabriella a standing ovation and she looked like she was ready to burst into tears. Obviously, she was able to change Cowell’s mind, an accomplishment that is certainly not easy.
Music is more than just a passion for Gabriella. She gained an interest in music when she was 6 years old and began songwriting at the age of 8. When she was 11 years old, Gabriella broke her finger. This left her unable to play the violin for six months. She decided to use her other instrument, her voice.
Gabriella auditioned for The Voice France in 2016 with Coldplay’s “The Scientist.” She added her own spin on the song by playing the violin. Once the coaches heard her beautiful voice, they knew immediately that they had to turn their chairs. Gabriella got all four coaches to turn their chairs and ended up choosing to be on Team Mika. She has been a fan of his since she was 15 years old.
Her audition for The Voice France now has over 72 million views. The Voice was the first on-camera experience that Gabriella had. She learned English about 4 years before her audition. When she was 12, she listed to Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift, and other classic rock bands and knew that she eventually wanted to release music in English.
Longtime fans of Gabriella’s know she also has a knack for taking on alternative rock and hip hop songs and making them her own. Such was the case for her performance of “Stressed Out” by 21 Pilots. Gabriella was eliminated in the second week of live shows on The Voice France after performing “Aussi libre que moi” by Calogero.
Gabriella Has Been Pursuing Her Passion Since Going Viral
Since appearing on the show, people are still buzzing about her audition and how unique of an artist she is. In 2018, Gabriella signed with Polydor France, a label under Universal Music Group. The following year, she competed in Destination Eurovision which allows France to select artists to represent the country at Eurovision. She sang her original song called “On Cherche Encore (Never Get Enough).”
Gabriella currently has 308,000 subscribers on YouTube that show love to all of her song covers. Last summer, she celebrated that her cover of the song “Zombie” was featured on World of Dance. She was particularly excited about the fact that judge Jennifer Lopez heard her song in an Instagram post.
At the beginning of the year, Gabriella posted on Instagram about writing her next album in the mountains in western Canada. She teased the “next chapter” of her work. After taking a bit of an Instagram hiatus, Gabriella announced that she auditioned for AGT.
What did you think of Gabriella’s AGT audition?
im missing a direct YT link in the otherwise very well writteb article
i like it but it didnt tell me how to sign up 🤩 😍 😆 🙂