Sal Valentinetti only made it to fifth place on season 11 of “America’s Got Talent.” But the old fashioned crooner has made a name for himself since then, with sell-out concerts across the country. He returned to compete on the fifth episode of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions.” He had the whole crowd clapping along to his cover of Bobby Darin‘s signature tune “Mack the Knife.” Watch his swinging performance of this song in the video above.
Back in 2016, Sal got the Golden Buzzer from Heidi Klum for his heartfelt cover of another 1960s hit, the Frank Sinatra classic “My Way.” Although he is only 23, Sal has an old soul and loves singing the standards. He looks like a big band singer in his white tuxedo.
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As our live blogger John Benutty observed, “Heidi was most excited to see him return to the stage. Tonight she was just as over the moon for Sal as she was then. His rendition of ‘Mack the Knife’ made Howie Mandel call himed as real and authentic as Frank Sinatra. Simon Cowell even said that he’s ‘star struck’ after seeing him sing.”
Among the other competition on episode 5 of this “AGT” spin-off was another singer who didn’t win their season of the main show: Jackie Evancho. She sang the show-stopper “Music of the Night” from the Tony-winning musical “Phantom of the Opera” for her audition.
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