The O’Donnells are a talented Aussie family band, but little 3-year-old Amy O’Donnell was the star of the show when they walked onstage on The Voice, prompting the audience to let out a chorus of awws. But the family had a lot more going for them than just an adorable toddler, as the seven-piece band showed off their vocal chops on Lady Gaga’s “Edge Of Glory”.
The judges instantly knew something was up when the audience reacted to little Amy’s entrance, but they were left guessing as they had their backs to the stage. They soon heard what all the fuss was about when the band rolled into their bluegrass version of the Lady Gaga song, which showcased not only the family’s beautiful voices, but also their impressive instrumental skills. Check out the video below, which has attracted 3.1 million views.
The band is made up of husband and wife John Snr (59) and Wendy (57), their children John (28), Jacqui (27), Katelyn (23) and grandkids Johnny (8) and Amy (3). All seven family members sang, making for a helluva stacked vocal line, and everyone pulled their weight with gorgeous harmonies. Four of the family also pulled double duty, adding banjo, bass guitar, acoustic guitar and mandolin to the song.
Jacqui opened the performance with a stunning lead vocal, ably supported by Katelyn and Wendy on backing vocals in the verse. The patriarch John showed himself to be a dab hand at banjo, adding a catchy picking melody that propelled the folk arrangement forward. You can see the band play Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” later in the season in the video below.
The teams of judges Guy Sebastian, Rita Ora and Jessica Mauboy were already full, so the family’s fate was in the hands of country hitmaker Keith Urban. Before the performance Sebastian quipped “if this is the cutest thing ever and it’s actually good, I’ll be livid. They’ve already won the audience over Keith.”
Sebastian, Ora and Mauboy were instantly on team O’Donnell once they heard the family sing, with Mauboy egging Urban on saying “C’mon Keith!” Urban let the tension build until he heard the chorus, then came through for the O’Donnells and smashed his buzzer. The star turned around just in time for young Amy’s big part singing the chorus refrain, which got a chuckle from Sebastian and put a big smile on Urban’s face.
It seems the collaboration was meant to be, as with Urban’s background in country he was the natural choice to coach the O’Donnells. The star was clearly chuffed with the family’s performance, saying “Oh my gosh, this is crazy. The first thing is, you’ve turned a Lady Gaga song into a gospel / bluegrass number, which would turn any chair.”
Young Amy then got her chance to shine yet again when Urban asked her age then told the toddler “you are the youngest performer on any Voice stage in the world, ever” which got a big cheer from the crowd. If you would like to see more from The O’Donnells, you can visit their official website for more information.