Angelica Hale is a singer of Filipino-American descent who competed in the 12th season of the televised talent show, “America’s Got Talent”. She was one of the most popular contestants on the show and managed to finish second place in the competition. After the competition she returned to compete in “America’s Got Talent: The Champions”. She’s one of the most memorable contestants on the show to date, singing her way into the public’s heart. So, what has the young singer been up to since her appearance on the show? Follow along to find out more about where Angelica Hale is now.
Who is Angelica Hale?
Angelica Hale was born on 31 July 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia to her Filipina native mother, Eva Bolando and her American native father, Colin Hale. As the older of two children, she had a relatively normal childhood in Atlanta up until 2012.
Battle Against Sepsis
At the young age of 4, Angelica suffered a Strep Pneumococcal bacterial infection that ultimately lead to double pneumonia. After being transferred to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Egleston from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, she had to be put on immediate Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) life support. The illness was so severe that the child suffered Sepsis shock – a fatal condition in response to the infection – in turn leading to multiple organ failure. One of the organs that failed were her kidneys that could not be repaired; part of her lung was damaged as well.
The following 12 days she spent on life support in a medically induced coma, during which she was placed on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis to help her survive. When her condition was fairly stable, she underwent surgery for her infected lung. She then spent a few weeks in the pediatric intensive care unit, during which her family stood by her and her large team consisting of nurses, physicians, pharmacists, respiratory therapists, nutritionists and ECMO specialists. After a total of 80 days in hospital, Angelica was allowed to go home— better but not fully recovered.
How her mother saved her life
Following her Sepsis shock, the then-five year old spent a year and a half on dialysis. During that period, her doctors were searching for a match for a kidney transplant to replace her failed kidneys. In September of 2013, her mother Eva was identified as a match and promptly donated one of her kidneys to her daughter, literally saving her life. The kidney transplant surgery took place at Emory University Hospital, and was successful for both Angelica and her mother.
The Show— “America’s Got Talent”
“America’s Got Talent” is a televised talent show based in US, a spin-off from the original “Britain’s Got Talent” now worldwide franchise created by Simon Cowell. Since the show’s premiere in June of 2006, it has run for a total of seventeen seasons with various hosts and presenters. Contestants – whose acts include singing, comedy, stunts, ventriloquism, magic and dancing – compete for a prize of $1 million! Once impressing the judges in the initial audition, the contestants move on to the live TV episodes of the particular season, when they rely on the viewing public’s votes as well as the judges to move further into the competition. Successful candidates finally make it into the live final, where the most talented one is determined; the winner is presented with a cash prize along with record deals or other offers.
How did it come about
Her singing passion began way before she became ill, when she would sing songs in the car to the amazement of her parents. Before her talent could be nurtured further, her illness took over, and although most people would think that it would stop her, it did not. On the contrary, the young child continued singing, even in her hospital bed and would be posted on YouTube by her parents as a show of her strength and will. Recalling her wish to be like Whitney Houston, Angelica cited her love for singing as a way to take her mind of her illness and the pain it caused her. Immediately after her release from hospital, she took up singing lessons before winning her first competition in the age group of 5-9-year-olds; she was still just five!
She sang at the Make a Wish Foundation’s Ball, followed by a Christmas song at Sunrise Senior Living Centre. Making one of her dreams come true, she sang “Let it Go” from Disney’s “Frozen” at the Broadway Dreams Foundation in Atlanta, and was acknowledged and complimented by the producer of “Frozen”. She then sang “America the Beautiful” at the US Open Men’s Tennis Semi-finals in 2015, and it was after all these performances that she decided to try her luck on “America’s Got Talent”.
Her performance on the show
In 2017, Angelica passed the audition round of the twelfth season of the show by singing Andra Day’s “Rise Up”. The next round was the Judge Cuts round, in which she covered Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” that impressed judged and viewers alike. Guest judge Chris Hardwick was so impressed that he awarded her with the prestigious golden buzzer, leaving her in tears with happiness. She progressed directly to the live shows, in which she performed “Clarity” in the quarter-finals and “Without You” in the semi-finals. As one of the Top 10 contestants, she performed “Symphony” by Zara Larsson and Clean Bandit, and finally “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson in the final round. A fan favorite from the beginning, Angelica at 10-years-old came second in the competition, after ventriloquist Darci Lynne.
Return in “America’s Got Talent: The Champions”
The Show— “America’s Got Talent: The Champions”
This show is a spin-off from “America’s Got Talent”, again created by Simon Cowell. The producers selected a group of the most popular and memorable acts from the entire franchise, including winners, finalists and eliminated contestants. The judges included Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Alesha Dixon and Mel B with the host being actor Terry Crews. Unlike its predecessor, this show included a panel of 50 mysterious voters – known as the “Superfans” – who determined which act would progress in the show. Votes came after each performance, in addition, a contestant could advance immediately to the final by receiving a golden buzzer from one of the judges.
Her Performance on the Show
For her first performance, Angelica carefully selected and performed Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” to a standing ovation from the aforementioned judges Judge Howie Mandel acknowledged her ‘fight’ and awarded her the golden buzzer, sending her immediately into the final. For her finals performance, she performed “Impossible” by Shontelle, once again receiving a standing ovation from the judges. Unfortunately, the team of superfans did not allocate her enough votes for her to progress in the show and she was eliminated along with fellow contestant Paul Potts. Eventually, contestant Shin Lim won the competition.
Can life just stay like this from now on??😂😘💖 #moods https://t.co/SuPwnmwTfl
— Angelica Hale (@angelicahale) January 22, 2019
Making History
As you know by now, Angelica is used to defying the odds, and has made history on more than one occasion. She became the youngest runner-up at 10 years old in “America’s Got Talent” history, when she lost to Darci Lynne. She’s the first only contestant to receive the golden buzzer twice: first on “America’s Got Talent” from Chris Hardwick and the second on “America’s Got Talent: The Champions” from Howie Mandel.
What did she do after “America’s Got Talent”?
Immediately after the latter competition, Angelica gave her first performance in Tuckahoe, New York in front of an audience of 7000. She then joined her fellow competitors from the show’s live performance between 2 and 5 November 2017, followed by a performance at the National Football League (NFL) game between the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons at the Mercedes-Benz stadium in her hometown. She had the privilege of singing the national anthem at Heinz Field for the game between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as performing her cover of “Girl on Fire” at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In addition, Angelica sang on Steve Harvey’s “Little Big Shots” in front of a huge crowd, and joined David Foster, one of “Asia’s Got Talent” judges, in a performance on “Celebrity Fight Night”. The most astonishing fact about this information is that all these appearances happened in the same year, when she was just 10 years old!
Where is she now?
Since making history, the young singer has kept busy with many more appearances. In 2018, she flew to Ottawa, Canada to perform two songs “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “O Canada” before the hockey game between the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers. She then sang the national anthem for a match of the baseball National League Division Series, then a performance of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” at an NFL half-time show in Atlanta. The following year she went on a world tour with Filipino boy band TNT Boys, touring venues including Los Angeles and Edmonton. Unfortunately, she had to leave the tour early due to an illness she had at the time, but she no doubt enjoyed her first yet brief world tour. She began training with esteemed vocal coach Tara Simon, before her performance on the annual Independence Day televised special, “A Capitol Fourth”.
In 2020, the rising star received an invite to that year’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, where she met a number of celebrities and posed with them, and even posted a picture of herself with the cast of the Netflix series “Stranger Things”.
During the pandemic-caused lockdown, she kept busy on her Instagram Live by engaging with fans, singing, and even began a series of live cooking sessions with her younger sister. Reminiscent of her days on the talent show, she hosted a show with four of her previous contestants, performing six songs solo, then gave the stage to each of her guests to perform their songs followed by a performance of “The Greatest Show” by all five of them.
Finally, she performed “Power of the Dream” at the Atlanta commemoration of the 1996 Olympic Games; the Atlanta native was chosen to sing the song originally performed at the Games by Celine Dion.
Angelica has appeared on a number of television shows, including “Hallmark Channel”, “Access Hollywood”, “Today Show” and “Pickler & Ben”.
Other Professions
Evidently, Angelica is a girl of many talents. She not only sings in competitions, but has also ventured into other professions. Stay tuned to find out more about her other professions.
Singing career
Angelica took her passion for singing a little further, and began writing and singing her own songs. When she was 11, she released her debut single “Feel the Magic” as well as the album of the same name on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Play and posted the song’s music video on Facebook and YouTube. That same year she went on her first concert tour, as the headliner in her hometown. She released the Extended Plays (EPs), “Christmas Wonder”, “What’s It Like”, and “Joy to the World” most recently. Some of her songs include “Find Me”, “Overcome”, “No Time to Waste” and “Set a Place at Your Table”.
Acting career
Singer-turned-actress Angelica made her film debut in 2019 in “American Reject”, alongside Kathleen Monteleone. The film is about a failed contestant from a talent show, who hopelessly returns to her hometown in depression, sorrow and embarrassment – Angelica essayed the role of a talented singer who looked up to the contestant and lifted her spirits. Luckily for her, she got to sing many songs in the movie and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Her acting career hasn’t stopped there, as she followed it up with a guest voice role in Disney Junior’s “T.O.T.S” then “Maya Unstoppable”, in which she voiced the titular role. She also had a guest voice role in Disney Junior’s special episode, “Celebrate Chugginton” – a show for preschool-aged children about trains. She is no doubt going to continue appearing in many more films and television shows, as she gains more experience in front of the camera.
Campaigns to Raise Awareness
Angelica has also used her platform to raise awareness of various illnesses. She’s the first child ambassador for National Kidney Foundation, and an advocate for a Sepsis Alliance, as well as Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. She informs and encourages people of all ages to take care of their kidneys; she insists on eating healthily to protect their kidneys and bodies as whole. To date, she has given her support to countless organizations such as The Organ Project, David Foster foundation, Living Bank, El Paso Children’s Hospital and Gateway for Cancer Research, to mention a few.
Along with supporting these organizations, Angelica also performs for them, often singing songs of hope and strength by herself, and with guests. One such performance included her fellow “America’s Got Talent” contestants who all had prior illnesses. She’s still very invested in her advocacy and tries her best to educate the public on the seriousness of these illnesses, and how they can prevent them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjOwaJTM7so/
How much is she worth?
Angelica Hale derives her primary source of income from her singing career, participating in concerts, shows and competitions. As an established singer-songwriter, she makes more money from her songs on sites such as Spotify and Deezer. Angelica’s YouTube channel- which boasts a huge fan following of more than two million – along with her numerous brand endorsements are another source. She also sells various merchandise and memorabilia on her site. Authoritative sources cite her net worth to be around $3 million as of late-2022, impressive for a young singer.
Where can you find her?
The singing sensation can easily be found online; she seems to be very social. It’s evident that she’s managed to stay in the spotlight from her social media accounts: 3.7 million subscribers on Facebook, more than 2.9 million on YouTube, 1.1 million on Instagram, and 98,000 on TikTok. She also maintains her own site, on ichre people can buy merchandise, interact with her, and even book her for events.
All in all, Angelica Hale has increased her fame and talent since being in the singing competition, and it’s safe to say that this young star will continue to rise. We can only wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
