Music from America’s Got Talent Semi Finals – Part 1
The first episode of the live performance semifinals was broadcast from Los Angeles, California on August 26, 2008. Below you’ll find a list of all the music that was performed on the live America’s Got Talent performance of these 10 contestants.
If you’re looking for the video of their performances, you can find it here. Otherwise, you can look through America’s Got Talent music.
Acts that were eliminated include:
* Derrick Barry
o General: Male Britney Spears impersonator
o Preliminaries, Week 1: Performed to “Toxic”.
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 1): Performed to “Gimme More.”
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 2): Passed through
o Semifinals (Part 1): Performed to “…Baby One More Time” , received an X from Piers for not “wowing” him
o Semifinals (Part 2): Eliminated
* Ronny B
o General: Ron Belala, singer and dancer
o Preliminaries, Week 6: Danced and sang to “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie . David disliked his performance, saying “This is a talent show, not a freak show.”
o Las Vegas Callbacks: Performance was not shown. Passed through
o Semifinals (Part 1): Performed “She Bangs” by Ricky Martin . Hasselhoff said in an interview he had “0” talent.
o Semifinals (Part 2): Eliminated
* The DC Cowboys
o General: All-male dance troupe
o Preliminaries, Week 2: danced to “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” by Big & Rich.
o Las Vegas Callbacks: Performance was not shown.
o Semifinals (Part 1): Performed to “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins.
o Semifinals (Part 2): Eliminated
Acts that are still in the competition are:
* Extreme Dance FX
o General: contemporary young clog team
o Preliminaries, Week 1: Passed through
o Las Vegas Callbacks: Performance was not shown.
o Semifinals (Part 1): Performed to “Push It by Salt-n-Pepa”
o Semifinals (Part 2): Passed through.
* The Cadence
o General: Stomp-style percussion group made up mostly of college students.
o Preliminaries, Week 7: Passed through
o Las Vegas Callbacks: Performance was not shown. Passed through
o Semifinals (Part 1): Performed to “Beat It” as made famous by Michael Jackson
o Semifinals (Part 2): Passed through.
* Jessica Price
o General: 24 year old singer
o Preliminaries, Week 3: Sang “I Can’t Make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 1): Sang “Teardrops On My Guitar” by Taylor Swift.
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 2): Passed through
o Semifinals (Part 1): Sang “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper
o Semifinals (Part 2): Passed through.
* Neal Boyd
o General: 32 year old insurance salesman and opera singer
o Preliminaries, Week 1: Sang “Nessun dorma” from the opera Turandot.
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 1): Sang “Unchained Melody” in Italian.
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 2): Passed through
o Semifinals (Part 1): Sang “Somewhere” from the musical West Side Story . Was declared the “Michael Phelps” of the competition, and the man to beat.
o Semifinals (Part 2): Passed through.
Only one of the Wild Card acts was a singer. The following is the music for that one Wild Card Act:
* Kyle Rifkin
o Preliminaries, Week 4: R&B singer. Sang “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” by The Temptations
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 1): sang Boyz II Men’s “I’ll Make Love To You” Passed through.
o Las Vegas Callbacks (Part 2): Eliminated (Judges Wild Card)
o Semifinals (Part 1): Eliminated again, did not get the Wildcard slot.
“32 year old insurance salesman and opera singer”
Neal Boyd may have had a music education and has an operatic voice, but he isn’t an opera singer. There is more to being an opera singer than to sing a semi-classical song or even an opera aria (and not well) with a microphone.
Opera singers are able to sing a full opera and be heard in a large theater without a microphone. Good opera singers have good foreign language diction, are expressive, have good vocal technique. Neal sounds good when he sings songs, his voice sounds almost operatic, but he isn’t an opera singer. Maybe if he had more training he could be. But at the moment he isn’t.
kitty,
I get what your saying, but what’s hard for me to understand is why I don’t mind hearing a professional opera singer. However, I’m rarely blown away when I hear them sing. In fact, often I want to close my ears.
Instead, when I watch Neal Boyd sing I am just captivated. There’s just something about him that has a special performance quality that is very entertaining and fun to watch. Forget all the technical details, because a show like America’s Got Talent isn’t a technical competition. It’s as much about personality as it is technical skill.