Avery told the story of how he picked up the instrument when he was getting bullied in elementary school because he was different as a result of being born premature at 1-pound, 8-ounces. “My voice sounds a little bit different, and I looked a little bit different, too,” Avery explained. “My elementary school nickname was Hammerhead because I had these knots on my head because I was premature. My vocal cords don’t close all the way, so that made my voice sound airy. Students were so negative about my voice. [This one girl] called me frog and she’d get the class in on the joke. They were relentless. I was in such a dark place, I actually wanted to commit suicide. When you’re in that mindset, all you want to do is quit.” Luckily, music was an escape for Avery, who it turns out didn’t sign up to audition for America’s Got Talent on his own, but rather got an audition because his mother registered him. “It wasn’t my choice because I didn’t think I was good enough,” he told Terry. “Mom was, ‘We’re signing you up.’” Avery’s performance had the judges up on their feet and dancing, even Howie Mandel. “Let me tell you, if Howie Mandel gets up to dance, that means you’re really good because he never dances,” Heidi Klum told Avery. “When you play with your instrument, you play with your heart, and we feel it.” Howie chimed in, “I love you. You need to be here. You are supposed to be here, and you will change the world.” And Sofia Vergara added, “That was so emotional. Listen to these people (the audience). They’re saying, ‘It was special to us because we feel how special it was for you.’ I think America’s going to fall in love with you.” And Simon Cowell wrapped it up, saying, “Every time I hear a story about a kid being bullied at school, it breaks my heart. Even more now because I have a son myself and I cannot think of anything worse. Any one of those idiots who bullied you, I hope are watching this audition. All of us knew you were going to be good. I didn’t know you were going to be great. You had 4,000 people in here up on their feet. It’s in your blood. This is your destiny. If you were looking for validation, you just go it because I’m going to give you your first yes.” But before Heidi, Howie and Sofia could vote, Terry interrupted and said, “There’s no need to vote. Avery, you touched the heart of every human being in this building right now. I want to tell you, you’ve been bullied all your life, but you tell every bully that you have a big brother named Terry Crews, who has your back, and all those bullies are going to have to watch you succeed.” So saying, Terry hit the Golden Buzzer. Tears came to Avery’s eyes, and he described what winning AGT would mean to him. “First, I’d want to give my mom and brother a space where we can live as loud as we want to be,” he said. “I can’t exactly practice where we live now. Somebody had called the cops on me before we flew out. I was trying to practice. Doing a show as big as this, I wanted everything to be perfect. So, they called the cops. The cops came banging on the door. They were like, ‘You need to be quiet.’ My goal with the music is to be able to do the thing I love and if I can do that, I will have found my purpose with America’s Got Talent.” America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next, Summer Fun! Everything You Need To Know About America’s Got Talent Season 17
