Kenyan teen wows Britain’s Got Talent

At first hesitant about her taking on Jennifer Hudson’s epic ‘And I Am Telling You’, Cowell was won over and with the golden buzzer automatically pushed her into the competition's semifinal. Ikumu told him the song ‘shows my vocal ability the best’.

"Look, Sarah, I've heard this song a lot and it started off really well. I thought, 'This girl's great'," said a star-struck Cowell, who alongside the other judges and the whole auditorium at London's Palladium theatre had given her a standing ovation. “And then, it's like you became possessed halfway through. It was quite incredible. And for someone of your age to stand on the stage with all these nerves and all this pressure, to absolutely … not just to nail this song, but you made it your song."

Ikumu lives in Milton Keynes, England, with her mother, a carer, and her truck driver father, both of whom are Kenyan immigrants. She is in Year 11 and currently studying for her GCSE.

No stranger to the limelight, the talented teenager was encouraged to join the church choir at age five by her father, Alex Gatoto, who is also a pastor. She went on to win talent shows held at her school, a teen star competition and the 2015 Milton Keynes Young Musician of the Year contest.

Details have emerged that she was scouted towards the end of last year and asked to audition after giving an impressive performance at a local event. The show’s spokesperson said that while they did encourage some acts to audition, everyone was subjected to the same rules and judged on their performance.

Ikumu will perform again at the live semifinal in a few weeks’ time.

Watch her electric performance in the official video that already has more than 2 million views on YouTube: