When 11-year-old Oscar Stembridge got a gig singing for Swedish Crown Princess Victoria, he knew he had to step up his game. Luckily for Oscar, he has the voice of an angel. He used it to deliver such an achingly beautiful rendition of the Journey classic “Don’t Stop Believin’.” Oscar soon had the Princess grooving and singing along to the ‘80s hit. Steve Perry’s vocals are infamously hard to sing, but Oscar delivered the goods with such a sweet performance without breaking a sweat!
The Music Man readers will definitely want to tune in at 3:30, where Oscar sings some gorgeous high-range hooks. Oscar hits all the big notes and captures the essence of the song, but he also adds his own style to the vocals, which is pretty impressive for such a young performer. Added to that is the fact that he’s singing while also playing acoustic guitar at the same time – certainly not the easiest of feats when you’re singing Steve Perry’s vocal lines.
Oscar gave the performance for Princess Victoria’s birthday, and his cut of “Don’t Stop Believing” subsequently drew almost a million views on YouTube. People watching at home were loving it and added comments such as “What a very talented young man! Steve Perry and Journey would be proud of him! Bravo!” and “It’s nice to see the Royal Family enjoying the performance of this little amazing rocker, they keep smiling, the little princess is jamming to the music. What an honor to perform for the royal family.”
At age 16, Oscar would make his way to the America’s Got Talent stage. In the 2024 performance, he auditioned with his original song “What If” on America’s Got Talent, becoming only the second Swede to perform on the show. Simon called Oscar’s performance “brilliant” and he would go on to pass his audition and eventually make it as far as the quarterfinals. It’s a brave choice to audition with an original song, especially at age 16, but it looks like the risk paid off for the talented teen!
Oscar Stembridge is a Swedish singer-songwriter, now aged 17, who was born on December 29, 2007. He is a multi-instrumentalist, and at age 10 he got his first big break by signing to Universal Music Sweden. The Music Man readers might be interested to know that he was the youngest person to ever sign a contract with that label. Oscar has since built up a career as an original artist, and to date he has issued two EPs, with the latest being his 2025 release How Did We End Up Here?