‘America’s Got Talent’: Angel City Chorale Advances

Share Story :

Angel City Choral receives the Golden Buzzer and moves to the next round. Six members of the choir are Pacific Palisades residents.                                                                                     Photo: Vivian Zink/NBC

Angel City Chorale Receives Golden Buzzer

By BERNICE FOX

The Angel City Chorale truly is golden.

The 160-voice choir that’s based in West Los Angeles earned the coveted Golden Buzzer on last night’s edition of “America’s Got Talent.”

The Golden Buzzer was pressed by guest judge Olivia Munn and sends the Angel City Chorale directly to the next round, the live show.

Last night’s performance was taped back in April. It was the second on AGT for the ACC, which currently has six singers who live in Pacific Palisades: Harry Eden, Norman Helgeson, Kathy Jackson, Marian Niles, Cheryl Robinson and Adam Wolman.

Their first AGT performance aired a couple of weeks ago and was their version of Toto’s “Africa” with body percussion for sound effects of “the rain down in Africa.”

Last night’s performance, which led to their Golden Buzzer, was “Baba Yetu.” The song is the theme from the video game, Civilization IV.  The lyrics are The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili.

The first time the ACC appeared on AGT, judge Simon Cowell called the choir “a force of nature.” This time, on their second appearance, he called conductor and founder, Sue Fink, “a little dynamo.”

Judge Howie Mandel also was swept up by the impact of what he saw and heard from the ACC, telling them on last night’s show, “everybody is living the song, more than just playing the song or singing the song. You took me on a journey and I love you.”

With the Golden Buzzer sounding, large pieces of gold-colored confetti came raining down on the choir from the ceiling and ACC conductor Fink said she was in “complete disbelief.”

Members of the Angel City Chorale got to re-live the excitement from the show they taped back in April with a viewing party last night. They and their families and friends gathered at a restaurant in Century City and watched “America’s Got Talent” as it was airing on NBC. Some singers brought with them souvenir handfuls of the gold-colored confetti they had scooped up the night they won that Golden Buzzer.

The chorale’s live appearance at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood is expected to be Tuesday, August 14.

Share Story :