Michael Ketterer sings from the heart. So much so, that the judges were left in tears, including the normally stoic Simon Cowell.
During his quarter final performance, Michael sang James Bay’s Us, and his beautiful voice left Simon at a loss for words. Simon asks host Tyra Banks to move onto the other judges. But she was having none of it. “I’m not going to come back. I know you’re emotional and I want you to talk through it,” she said.
After taking a deep breath, Simon began: “As a dad I kinda get… I couldn’t… I can’t imagine what you’ve done. The fact you’re on this show and you really need this and our a really, really special guy. There’s something about you.”
Michael, 41, works as a pediatric nurse as well as performing music. The native from Knoxville, Tennessee moved to California where he now lives.He previously revealed on the show how his wife Ivey almost died after giving birth to their daughter Sofia – whose life was also in danger.
Ketterer recalled, “The doctor said the woman I loved the most in life and my new daughter, they probably wouldn’t make it through the night… I spent the whole night praying, and miraculously my daughter pulled through.”
After being told the same thing could happen if they had more children, they decided to adopt instead. Michael and Ivey are now parents to five adopted boys, one of whom has cerebral palsy. Three of their other boys were adopted from a meth lab, and one was homeless.
Although Michael made Simon cry, the other judges were equally moved by Michael’s performance and his heart and soul. Howie Mandel said, “[We need] More humans like you. You deserve to be here, this is not a sob story, this is a happy story. People should be led and inspired by who you are and how you are.”
Watch his performance in the video below.
And watch the video below to see the judge’s reaction to his performance.
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