Connie Talbot

Connie Talbot (born 20 November 2000) is an English child singer from Streetly, Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands. She rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the final of the television talent show Britain's Got Talent, where she lost to Paul Potts. Although it had originally seemed as though Talbot would sign with Sony BMG, the label pulled out of the deal due to her age.

Shortly afterwards, she signed with Rainbow Recording Company, and began production of her debut album, Over the Rainbow, which was released on 26 November 2007 in the UK, with a rerelease due June 2008. The first single from the album, "Over the Rainbow"/"White Christmas" was tipped as a potential Christmas number one. However, the single was not released, and the number one was claimed by fellow reality star Leon Jackson's single "When You Believe".

Although auditioning for the television reality show Britain's Got Talent was originally a family day out, Talbot's confidence increased when Simon Cowell, whom she is said to have idolised,[2] described her as "pure magic" and said that he would make her earn "£1 million-plus this year".[2] In June 2007 Talbot reached the final stage of the show singing The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow".[3] Talbot was joint favourite (along with Paul Potts) to emerge as the winner of the first series of Britain's Got Talent.[4][5] It was Potts who won as the result of a call-in vote on the night of the final.[6]

Cowell had preliminarily deal with his own record label, Sony BMG. After recording two songs in London for Sony BMG, ("Over the Rainbow" and "Smile"[2]) the company changed its mind.[7] Talbot's mother said she was told that her daughter "...was too young to be their sort of artist", adding "We have been told to look for a company which looks after children."[8][9] Simon Cowell was quoted as saying- "My views on Connie have not changed. I think she's a wonderful talent. But I was persuaded by everyone at Sony BMG that she is just much too young to be embarking on a recording career. When the time is right I will be delighted to see if we can make it work. My views on Connie are still exactly the same. She's an amazing little girl with a beautiful voice."