'X-Factor Australia' star Emmanuel Kelly says Kelly Clarkson inspired him to take up music
Pop singer-songwriter Emmanuel Kelly featured as the special guest on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show' on July 8 to share with host Kelly Clarkson a special story.
"My next guest has an incredible story of surviving war-torn Iraq being adopted by an Australian family and going on to perform 'X Factor' in Australia," Clarkson said in her introduction to Kelly. "He's now a recording artist and the video for his newest song features everyone from Demi Lovato to Chris Martin," she added.
Kelly's story about becoming the "first differently-abled pop star" is a touching one, especially for those wanting to enter the music industry arena. Kelly revealed he was abandoned in a box as an infant in Iraq before nuns from a Mother Teresa orphanage took him in. They raised him with Ahmed, another boy whom Kelly says is his "now-brother" and who was also born with "severely underdeveloped limbs due to the chemical warfare in the community."
Kelly then went on to talk about his adoptive mother. "This incredible woman Moira Kelly, who's a humanitarian, who's helped thousands of children's lives over the years found us, fell in love with these beautiful good looks and took us to Australia where I was then raised there for the rest of my life." He continued, "And during that time I learned how to walk for the first time, I learned how to use a knife and fork for the first time, I learned all the things that we kind of take for granted every day. It was just an incredible journey."
Speaking on his early interest in music, Kelly added, "But when I was in Iraq, music was like my salvation, so when I came out to Australia, I learned I could create a career out of this." Kelly then went on to explain how he was inspired by Clarkson when he saw her for the first time on 'American Idol'. He said, "I see this woman and I'm thinking, 'Now, she's got one hell of a voice!' Right? And it was you!" he expressed to the shocked TV show host. "And so that day, I realized that, 'You know what? If she can do it, I can as well. And I'm going to push on and fight.'"
Kelly said she is one of his three main musical inspirations alongside Andrea Bocelli and Coldplay, whose frontman Chris Martin serves as Kelly's longtime mentor and appears in his music video for his latest single 'Never Alone'. "I love that I made Andrea Bocelli and Coldplay's list!" Clarkson replied joyfully.
Before performing the song from an isolated recording studio, he revealed to Clarkson that his appearance on her show was his "first American national and worldwide talk show."