Rise to the Spotlight
In 2016, a 12-year-old girl walked onto the stage in the first episode of the 10th season of “Britain’s Got Talent” to audition for the show. Happy that she had earned an audition after having her application to the show turned down the previous year, the young girl gave a few nervous responses to Simon Cowell,thend launched into an electrifying performance of “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked-The Musical”.
Her performance had the audience rising in awe and all four judges on their feet, giving her a standing ovation. At one time during the performance, the angelic voice had Amanda Holden’s skin breaking out in goosebumps – at the end of the performance, Amanda sent the already excited crowd into a frenzy by pressing the Golden Buzzer. marking the moment that launched 12-year-old British singer Beau Dermott to stardom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAhzaG-SXZE
From the moment Beau belted out the first note in her performance, she was a star! She defied the live audience’s, judges’, hosts’, and viewers’ expectations with the level of control she had over her voice, and her ability to hold notes for just the appropriate amount of time. She earned praise and admiration for her ability to adapt her facial expressions to match the notes and lyrics and end her performance expertly by holding the last note for a few seconds before ending it abruptly. Beau became an instant favorite in the season and rode the wave of her newly-found popularity to the spot Amanda Holden’s Golden Buzzer secured her in the final round.
Overnight, Beau went from an unknown 12-year-old girl from Liverpool to an instant star known for her mesmerizing voice and ability to elevate a musical number into a musical masterpiece.
Although Beau Dermott finished 5th in Season 10 of the show, the audition earned her fans and supporters in the live audience and beyond the walls of the arena that hosted the auditions for “Britain’s Got Talent” 2016.
Among the people who were most impressed by the performance was Idina Menzel, the original star of “Wicked-The Musical”, who praised Beau’s performance of “Defying Gravity.” On YouTube, the video has almost 34 million views and continues to attract comments from fans who have listened to and followed Beau’s music since 2016, and new fans who are just discovering the voice of the now 19-year-old singer. Many fans who stumble upon her videos or seek out her music deliberately often ask ‘What happened to Beau Dermott?’
Media and Online Backlash
After a successful debut on “Britain’s Got Talent”, Beau learned just how fickle overnight fame is, after facing some backlash online following accusations that her excellence in the show was the result of years of vocal training and experience after appearing in multiple talent shows. Some people alleged that Beau’s parents had pushed her into shows and performances for fame, after years of exhausting vocal training.
Within days, and the 12-year-old singing sensation went from being a fan favorite to the victim of ridicule and attacks for cheating her way to a Golden Buzzer and a guaranteed spot in the BGT final round. Barely days after her momentous performance in the show, major publications picked up the allegations and ran headlines declaring Beau a privileged singer whose performance was not as authentic as it was made to appear in the show. Luckily for Beau, The Daily Mail published an article trashing the allegations that she was a cheat, and confirming that all her parents did was nurture her talent and support her dreams.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1200809123297562
Beau Dermott defied the wave of negative publicity and her popularity resumed its rise as she proceeded through the show to the final. Tragedy struck before she performed at the finals – Beau’s father was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary glands, following which, Beau turned to use her music as her contribution to her father’s treatment. Aged just 13 at the time, she organized a concert at the Liverpool Philharmonic to raise money for his treatment, and raise awareness of the illness – she hoped that her music and the concert would help other people and families dealing with cancer. After a successful concert and months of treatment, Beau Dermott sadly sang her father and hero to eternal rest, announcing the devastating moment on an Instagram post on February 12, 2018.
Events and Performances
Beau had actually staged her first performance long before her spell-binding audition. The Golden Buzzer and her subsequent performances in “Britain’s Got Talent” earned Beau opportunities to perform at events and concerts both in Britain and abroad. Her first major performance after the talent show competition was a concert in June 2016, performing alongside the Glasgow Philharmonia Orchestra at their 2016 summer concert. The brilliant performance of Jekyll and Hyde’s “Someone Like You” has attracted over 450,000 views on YouTube.
In the same year, Beau organized the aforementioned concert to help her family through her father’s diagnosis, entitled “Beau and Friends”, with a charity theme, and a promise to support The Clatterbridge Cancer Charity for cancer patients, The Donna Louise Trust for kids with terminal illnesses, and a horse charity known as the Mane Chance Sanctuary. As part of the publicity tour for the concert, Beau staged multiple performances in cancer treatment centers across the UK during 2016 and 2017. In one performance at Clatterbridge, she performed some Christmas specials before crowning the event with the rendition of “Defying Gravity”, which had made her famous. She kept up the performances in honor of her father’s memory, by staging performances in hospitals, to cheer up children with cancer.
After losing her father, Beau Dermott spent her teenage years performing across the country. In 2017, she was one of the opening acts in Dame Vera Lynch’s celebration concert for her 100th birthday – the now late Queen Elizabeth II was one of the guests at the concert, which was held at the London Palladium. In 2019, she was part of the line-up for the year’s Young Voices concert held at the O2 Arena in London, performing with The Northlands Primary School choir as her back-up vocalists and delivered a performance that has accumulated 400K views on YouTube.
The pandemic prevented Beau from making any appearances or staging live performances in 2020 and 2021, but she honored her fans with a highly anticipated comeback in 2022, by appearing as a special guest in several concerts with Tom Spence, including in his sold-out concert at the Floral Pavilion Theatre in New Brighton. Beau ended a busy 2022 with appearances at a Christmas concert at St George’s Hall Concert Room.
Record Deal
Executives at Decca Records saw Beau’s performance of Diana Krall’s “Glad Rag Doll” when she opened Dame Vera’s birthday concert. and enthralled by Beau’s “One in a million” voice, they immediately offered the “Britain’s Got Talent” finalist a record deal soon after the show,with a promise to help the teen music prodigy nurture her talent. The record label immediately insured her voice for £1m with Lloyd’s of London, recognizing it as an asset that needed protection. The label understood Beau’s love for musicals – which she discovered after watching “The Sound of Music”, singing along to Julie Andrew – and allowed her to pursue her love for such music by producing her covers of songs from her favorite musicals.
Albums and Original Music
Beau Dermott’s first album entitled “Brave” combines her love for musicals and ability to transform an ordinary musical number into a masterpiece. It has 14 songs, all drawn from musical theater, including; “Defying Gravity” and “I’m Not That Girl” from “Wicked”, “Sparkles,” “Fight Song,” “Reflection” from Mulan, and “Tears in Heaven,” “Wings,” “Someone Like You” from “Jekyll and Hyde”. Also included were “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables, “Brave,” “Colours of the Wind” from Pocahontas, “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio, and “When She Loved Me” from “Toy Story 2”.
Loving London today! Looking forward to Good Morning Britain tomorrow morning 8.30am make sure you tune in💚✨ #GMB #goodmorningbritain pic.twitter.com/KgdmWbMGql
— Beau Dermott (@BeauDermott) August 31, 2017
Before its release in 2017, Decca records dropped a teaser on YouTube attracting over 100,000 views, however, the album’s reception was poor – it didn’t generate as much attention and buzz as her performances in “Britain’s Got Talent”, peaking at number 73 on the Official Albums Chart and number 51 on the Scottish Albums Chart. “Sparkles,” the only song on the album that is available on YouTube has 620,000 views and 872 comments since it was uploaded. Beau hasn’t written or released any original music yet.
The Future
Unlike other singers her age who have used their moments of fame to launch a strong social media presence, build large followings, and livestream performances for their fans, Beau Dermott isn’t active on social media. In six years, Beau has only uploaded one post onto YouTube, her cover of “Sparkles” in 2018, which has only just over 8,000 subscribers – she’d made no indication of establishing a platform to share her musical journey with her fans.
Beau Dermott has a promising music career ahead of her despite her silence over the past year. At just 19years, her voice is acclaimed by expert lyricists and performers – Don Black praised her vocal control and ability to hit all the correct notes without overdoing them, and the original performer of “Defying Gravity” in “Wicked” praised the teenager’s prowess. Her voice, ability to capture the attention of the crowd, and leave her audience enamored in her videos from “Britain’s Got Talent” and her few performances in the past five years have grown her popularity, and she continues to gain fans from all over the world. In 2022, Neil Shaw declared the performance which made her famous as one of the most iconic moments of “Britain’s Got Talent”, and that it left a lasting impact.
Over the past five years, the musical prodigy has kept up her performances at various charity events, continuing to use her musical talent and enthralling voice to raise money for cancer centers and patients, and a horse charity, lending her voice to causes that are important to her and her family. Beau promised to continue her charity work after her initial charity concert in 2017 and has kept to her pledge through the years.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmJ0vUEq50c/
Beau Dermott is pursuing other performing arts in addition to music, and as a student at The Hammond, through musical theatre shows. In one of her most recent performances under her school’s performing arts program, Beau played the role of Morticia Addams in “The Addams Family.”
It will be interesting to see Beau Dermott combine her musical talent and her passion for theatre after completing her performing arts program, to expand her music career, venture into professional theatre performances, and raise money for cancer survivors and animal shelters.
