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Carrollton teen’s ‘Got Talent’
By Senitra Horbrook. Staff Writer
A dancer may have accidentally pulled a plug during Jeffery Ou’s live piano performance last week, but she didn’t pull the plug on the Carrollton resident’s chances of winning “America’s Got Talent” and the $1 million grand prize.
“I noticed it while he was playing and I couldn’t hear it,” said Julia Ou, Jeffery’s sister. “I’m glad he still got through and it didn’t screw up his vote.”
After the mishap, many expected Ou to go home and were quite surprised when the 18-year-old concert pianist made it to the semifinals over Bri – a singer that had been compared to Katy Perry and Amy Winehouse. The outspoken judge Sharon Osborne said she was at a loss for words.
Jeffery travelled to Houston to audition for the popular NBC show during the summer.
“He’s into competition, piano-wise,” Julia said. “We came across the web site and he decided to audition. He wasn’t expecting to get very far.”
Jeffery made it through to the top 48 and is now in Los Angeles awaiting the semifinals. He began playing the piano as a child after watching a cousin play. According to the bio on NBC’s Web site, Jeffery was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and showed a remarkable gift for music as a very young child. His family moved to the United States when he was three and he began formal training in piano at six. Jeffrey launched his competitive career at 13, and won first prize in piano and was named one of three overall grand prize winners in the 2004 North Texas Youth Music Competition.
“Everybody has their own way of escape,” Julia said. “The piano is his escape out of the world or something.”
Julia, a senior at Newman Smith, created a group on Facebook to drum up support for Jeffery.
“When I first created it there were 200 members, now there are 400 members,” she said. “Half the people that joined don’t know him personally.”
Jeffery graduated from Newman Smith High School in June and will attend the University of North Texas for piano performance.
“I think he wants to tour the world and play piano,” Julia said.
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