Daniel Chettoe, then 15 years old, appeared to be a typical calm Lancashire youngster when he entered the Britain’s Got Talent stage in 2015. He told the judges, hands clasped, that he enjoyed old-style tunes and classic music, but nothing prepared them for what was about to happen.
Daniel selected the smoky jazz standard “Cry Me a River” in the Ella Fitzgerald manner, which is difficult for even many adults to do. The room froze when he opened his mouth. A rich, velvety crooner’s voice that sounded like it belonged to someone many decades older emerged from this adolescent. Later, David Walliams laughed and said, “The good news is your voice is definitely broken,” while Simon Cowell joked that Daniel had “swallowed a 60-year-old man who’s singing for you.”
He gained confidence as he sang more, moving through the song with genuine swing and command. The audience obviously loved the old-soul sound coming from such a young face because they moved from being intrigued to cheering in the middle of the song. The crowd and judges were fully on Daniel’s side by the last note, and he easily advanced to the following round, officially revealing his “big surprise.”
He continued to walk like a typical teenager.
The boy with the voice from a smokey jazz bar in a different period walked off.
