Meet Heidi Klum’s Golden Buzzer, Stunning Autistic, Blind ‘AGT’ Singer Lavender Darcangelo
Trae Patton/NBC Reading Time: 3 minutes
America’s Got Talent is finally back! Now that the show’s season 18 has officially started, we’ve seen some amazing performers. Among tonight’s performers is 25 year old Lavender Darcangelo, here’s everything to know about her.
Lavender Darcangleo is a 25 year old blind and autistic vocalist, and a disability advocate hailing from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The singer began her craft at the age of three, before she could even speak. Since birth, Lavender had a love for music and perfect pitch.
According to Lavender’s website, she is currently hard at work on her debut album, Mosaic. Mosaic is said to raise awareness of diversity within the autism and disability community, through its wide variety of songs and music styles. The singer is a Performing Arts Fellow of the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism and has designated the foundation to receive a portion of the proceeds from the sales of Mosaic.
Lavender first rose to national fame in 2019, after her rendition of “Part of Your World” from Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” went viral online. This performance took place for an LBGTQ Cabaret performance at the First Parish Church in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
The video was originally tweeted by former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford, who was honored at the event. In 2023, this video has more than 11,500 retweets, and 47,600 likes.
A young woman comes on stage today in Fitchburg. Introduces herself as Lavender. Tells us that she blind and autistic and wants to sing a song in honor of LGBT Pride.
— Rufus Gifford (@rufusgifford) June 23, 2019
She sings one of my favorite songs and brings us tears. pic.twitter.com/cYWJNxJDNY
Lavender’s Journey in Music, Finding Family
On a daily basis, Lavender fights to prove that she’s more than her disability. Music has always been the singer’s safe place, so it’s no surprise that she also found her family through the art.
In 2010, Lavender joined a mentorship, entitled Fitchburg High School’s Music Tribe Music Mentorship Project, founded Wil Darcangelo. Reportedly, the singer felt like she found her home in the program. Within a month of knowing each other, Lavender asked Wil Darcangelo to legally adopt her as his daughter. According to Lavender’s website, Wil and his husband Jamie became her adoptive fathers in 2017.
“Even though I wasn’t planning on becoming her adopted dad, I knew I had a duty to be her mentor always,” Wil told Good Morning America.
Wil’s husband, Jamie, told GMA that it’s really “special” to have a daughter as a gay man. “I didn’t even think I’d ever be able to get married and now to be able to have someone in my life who I’m responsible for, who counts on me, is really awesome,” he said.
It’s more than clear that Lavender’s family is supportive in her singing dreams, and cheering her on all the way. What do you think of Lavender Darcangelo? Let us know in the comments down below.
Where are Lavender’s birth parents? Glad she found a supportive family. We adopted a young lady after she finished high school who spent her life in foster care. It’s like she has always been our daughter.
Beautiful! She definitely deserves that golden buzzer!