Roberta Battaglia is an 11-year-old singer who is currently competing on season 15 of America’s Got Talent. Roberta first caught the attention of most AGT viewers with her golden buzzer audition of Shallow by Lady Gaga.
Roberta was born in August of 2009 to Alessandro and Gabriella Battaglia. Her parents are both Italian and moved to Canada from Italy In 2008, just before she was born. Roberta comes from a musical family and started displaying her talent for singing at a young age. Roberta’s father is also a well-known singer and both her grandfather and great-grandfather are music teachers in Italy. She first started singing around the age of three, when her father would sing in restaurants and Roberta would sing twinkle twinkle little star whenever she was given a microphone.
Roberta performed one of her first Duets with her dad at 3 years old, singing “Mi Scappa La Pipi.” Her parents continued to nurture her talent and it wasn’t long before she started performing in local talent competitions. At the age of 4, Roberta finished in 4th place at Hidden talent Toronto 2014, where she performed Brave by Sara Bareilles. At the age of 6, Roberta could often be found performing with her father at birthday parties and weddings. Roberta also performed at local restaurants and the next clip shows her at the age of 7, singing “girl on fire” by Alicia keys at an Ontario restaurant.
Roberta’s lists her favorite music genres as R&B and jazz. She says Etta James, Aretha franklin and Pink are some of her favorite artists. Roberta explained Pink is the artist she would like to perform with the most and can be seen in the next clip performing Pink’s “what about us” at an event with her father.
In 2018, Roberta started her own charitable initiative designing and selling bracelets to raise money for Toronto’s SickKids hospital.
All of the money raised is donated to charity. Roberta explained, “I thought it would be a fun and creative way to make money,”
In March of 2019, Roberta appeared on the Toronto morning television show, “Breakfast television.”The then 9 year old singer performed Shallow by Lady Gaga during “kids got talent week.” Later that year Roberta performed Lady Gaga’s Shallow at the 20th ideacity conference.
Also in 2019, Roberta came in second place at the CNE Rising Star Talent Competition for juniors. Roberta’s recent success did not go unnoticed.
AGT producers who had seen Roberta’s videos, reached out to her mom, to see if she would be interested in sending them an audition tape of her daughter. Ultimately, Roberta was selected from the audition tapes to audition for America’s Got Talent judges.
For her audition, Roberta once again performed the Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper ballad, “Shallow.” The performance earned her a standing ovation from the audience and all four judges. After the performance, judge Simon Cowell said “You are so likeable, so humble, you must have great friends”
Roberta responded, “yes, but sometimes I do get bullied.”
Simon went on to say,” “There’s one way you win over bullies, It’s by being happy and successful.”
“Bullies are always threatened by talented people, so in a weird way… it’s a compliment,”
Judge Sofia Vergara said, “It was amazing. It was breathtaking,”
“You’re 10 years old. It’s impossible to sing like that at 10 years old.”
“You know what? Let’s see who’s going to bully you after this,” as she slammed the golden buzzer sending Roberta straight to the live shows.
During the live quarterfinal, Roberta performed a powerful rendition of “You Say” by Lauren Daigle
After the performance, Judge Sofia Vergara said “You have a special place in my heart.”
“I cannot believe how spectacular you sing.”
“I think the world is going to open up for you after this experience.”
Guest Judge Kelly Clarkson said, “You’re incredible. I cannot believe your age,”
“Like, even if you are 27 and sound like that, your tone is so beautiful and it’s effortless. I can’t even wait to see what you do for the rest of your life.”
During the results show the next day, Roberta learned she had received enough votes from AGT viewers to advance to the next round.
Singer Lauren Daigle was also among the viewers wowed by Roberta’s performance, tweeting, “WOW girl you crushed it!!”
Roberta will perform tonight in the semifinal round where she will compete for one of 10 spots in the America’s Got Talent finale.
Do you think Roberta has what it takes to win season 15 of America’s Got Talent?
