The second season of AGT‘s spinoff series, The Champions, has showcased the talents of some of the greatest Got Talent stars from around the world. From the beginning, one of the standout contestants was singer Marcelito Pomoy.
Pomoy rose to fame after winning Pilipinas Got Talent in 2011. But his star grew even larger after his debut appearance on The Champions.
The 35-year-old singer stepped on stage and wowed the judges with his unique approach to Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli’s “The Prayer.” Instead of singing straight through the song, Pomoy changed his voice throughout the performance to sing both the male and female parts.
His use of dual voices wowed the judges and viewers at home. As of press time, the video of him singing “The Prayer” has over 20 million views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcgvYr2nlrk
The AGT “superfans,” who decide the fate of the contestants on The Champions, voted for Pomoy to advance to the semifinals. This is profound, since the superfans only vote two contestants into the semifinals from each round of auditions.
After waiting a few weeks, viewers finally got the chance to witness a new performance from Pomoy. Once again, he used dual voices to perform as both the man and the woman in the song he chose. And once again, the song he performed was recorded by Bocelli.
For his semifinals performance, Pomoy sang the operatic pop song “Con te partirò.” Bocelli originally recorded the song in Italian, and released it in 1995.
Later, Bocelli re-recorded the song as a duet with British singer Sarah Brightman. Retitled “Time to Say Goodbye,” the updated rendition was partially performed in English.
Even though the judges knew what to expect from Pomoy as he sang “Time to Say Goodbye,” they were still blown away by what they heard.
Howie Mandal perhaps offered the highest praise of all:
“I gotta say that I believe that you have the best shot of winning this whole thing,” Mandel said. “This is the semifinals and you raised your game. The woman in you was just as good as she was the last time. But you as a man, you went up a notch. She tried to stay up with you but she couldn’t.”
Clearly, the superfans believe Pomoy deserves a shot at the show’s winning title, because they voted him through to the finale! He will now compete against other semifinals winners as well as the four judges’ golden buzzer acts.
Tune in to the video below to watch the performance that made Pomoy a Champions finalist. There is no doubting this man’s talent!