Key Points
America’s Got Talent hosts recalled the show’s most memorable acts during Tuesday’s special episode.
They discussed musician Kodi Lee, who’s blind and autistic, who blew them away with his 2019 audition.
Mandel said the performance was “our most memorable moment.”
The America’s Got Talentcast spent Tuesday’s episode remembering the show’s first 20 years.
Host Terry Crews noted on a Fourth of July special, America’s Got Talent: July 4th Party in the USA, in which he and judges Mel B, Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, and Sofia Vergara looked back at some of their favorite performances over the years, that they’ve had “so many self-taught acts that were unforgettable.” The one “that stands out to me the most is Kodi Lee.”
Lee, a self-taught pianist and singer, blew the judges — which, at the time, included Cowell, Mandel, Gabrielle Union, and Julianne Hough — away, with his performance of Donny Hathaway and Leon Russell’s “A Song for You” during his 2019 audition in season 14.
Union was tearing up as it happened!
Lee’s mother and advocate, Tina, had told them before Lee began that he had a special connection with music.
“When Kodi hears a song, he literally can play the melody back right away,” she told the judges. “Through music and performing, he was able to withstand living in this world, because when you’re autistic, it’s really hard to do what everybody else does. It actually has saved his life playing music.”
Cowell noted that, behind the scenes, it had taken about seven minutes for Lee’s performance to begin. The judges were desperately hoping that everything would go well. “Please, God, be good,” he recalled them thinking.
He needn’t have worried, because Lee busted out a beautiful melody on his instrument and a rich vocal. Cowell’s mouth had dropped open. They were watching the season’s eventual winner at work.
Looking back, Cowell said, “Whoa.”
While Mandel declared, “I think that’s our most memorable moment.”
Kodi Lee on ‘America’s Got Talent’ in 2014
Credit: Trae Patton/NBC
Mel B nodded her head, and Vergara grinned.
In the moment, Union had hit the Golden Buzzer, which sent the contestant straight to the live episodes.
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In the video above that America’s Got Talent shared to YouTube in 2023, Cowell had gone even further describing the performance: “Magic is the only word I could use.”
Crews had agreed, noting that “it was like watching a miracle live.”
After his big win, Lee returned to AGT in 2023 and 2024 for special seasons featuring previous contestants. He also headlined a stage version of the show’s biggest stars in Las Vegas.
America’s Got Talent airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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