Deaf singer stuns ‘AGT’ judges with original song — Simon Cowell hits Golden Buzzer in emotional moment
'America's Got Talent' has seen many incredible performers. However, when Mandy Harvey, then 29 years old, appeared on AGT in 2017, she created history. As the episode began, Simon Cowell asked Harvey (with the help of a sign language expert), "I think I have worked this out, so you're deaf?" Harvey replied, "Yes, I lost my hearing when I was 18 years old." When Cowell asked how she lost her hearing. Harvey told the judges, "I have a connective tissue disorder." She explained, "Basically, I got sick, and my nerves deteriorated." Harvey also revealed that she had been singing since the age of 4! She then added, "I figured out how to get back to singing with muscle memory, using visual tuners and trusting my pitch."
She performed an original song, 'Try,' which moved the audience to tears. Not only that, but it even prompted the difficult-to-please Cowell to say, "I don't think you'll need a translator for this," and hit the Golden Buzzer, which catapulted her to the final live show, per Time Magazine. Cowell also told Harvey, "I’ve done this a long time. That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen and heard."
In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Harvey said, "There is bound to be fear and anxiety when your world shifts so dramatically—like being afraid of the dark and not being able to hear people come up behind you when walking outside. I had to relearn how to feel secure and to feel OK just being." She also told the outlet that her dad nudged her into music again. "I didn’t want to in the beginning, but eventually agreed because my dad and I used to play guitar all the time, and it was kind of our way of bonding. It was our way of communicating,” she added.
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When talking about the process of playing guitar after losing her hearing ability, she told the post, "I started to feel and pay attention to the vibrations on the strings that were on my fingertips because there’s no sound or any other distractions. It was a reminder for me that just because I’m experiencing music differently, it doesn’t mean that music does not exist for me anymore." However, she also shared that it takes her longer to learn and sing the song on the guitar now: "Compared to before, I focus a lot more on the lyrics and the meaning of songs. I never learn songs if they don’t have any value or significance because then it’s not worth the 10 hours needed to learn the song,” Harvey said.
Currently, Harvey travels a lot and does performances in different parts of the world. After AGT success, she doesn't want to stop. Despite her physical inhibitions, she shared in the interview that "I chose a career that requires me to travel excessively. I deal with constant pain, constant dislocation, constant therapy, physical therapy, constant bruising, constant lack of circulation, and constant physical trauma. Yet I do it to follow my heart of being able to share with other people. I know it’s worth the struggle."