America’s Got Talent is officially back for their milestone Season 21. Along with a new season comes a brand new set of Golden Buzzer recipients. Among these Golden Buzzer recipients is rapper Luke Taleno.
Meet Howie Mandel’s Golden Buzzer Rapper Luke Taleno
America’s Got Talent is back and so is the show stopping Golden Buzzer formatting. Last year, freestyle rapper Chris Turner was a clear fan favorite in the competition. He even ended out the series as the runner-up!
It seems like this season, the judges are also a fan of the freestyle rap format. Howie Mandel is apart of the freestyle rap lovers, since he hit the Golden Buzzer for Luke Taleno! So who is Luke Taleno?
Luke Taleno is a freestyle rapper who began posting on social media in 2021. It seems like he is relatively unknown at the time of writing, since he currently has 22 thousand followers on Instagram, 50 thousand followers on TikTok and 769 subscribers on YouTube. Similar to last season Golden Buzzer, Jordan Blue, it seems like Taleno is primarily a crooner online.
In his personal life, Luke was born in Hialeah, Florida. He is married and has a son named Lucas.
He Battled Cancer at 13 Years Old
In a story with the Miami New Times, Luke’s cancer battled was shared. On May 29, 2011, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This lead to both the colors sapphire and magenta flooding his eyes.
Luke spent months in and out of hospitals, where he was given some of the most “radical and destructive” cancer treatments.
In early 2012, Luke had the opportunity to meet his idol, Pitbull. Even though it was just for a brief handshake, Luke knew in that moment that he wanted to be as big as Pitbull.
Around the same time, the Make-A-Wish Foundation gave the rapper several options, meet someone famous, go to Hawaii, or make music. The rapper chose the last choice.
Make-A-Wish helped the rapper fund his music studio in his two-bedroom apartment. From then on, he began mixing music about his journey with leukemia.
It is unknown whether Luke is in remission at the time of writing this article. What do you think about Luke Taleno? Let us know on X!
Words by:
Corey Cesare Corey Cesare is Talent Recap's Managing Editor and featured YouTube Host. She has a love of all things pop culture and an unhealthy obsession with celebrities. Corey earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Cinema/Screen Studies from the State University of New York at Oswego in 2021. She spends her spare time shooting astro, nature, and portrait photography, and coming up with movie ideas that she hopes to make into a film someday.
