Darci Lynne’s Journey from Pageants to “America’s Got Talent”

 

There’s no shortage of talented people in the entertainment industry, but Darci Lynne is called a prodigy for a rightful season. Ever since she achieved international fame through the stage of “America’s Got Talent”, the young Darci hasn’t stopped conquering the hearts of millions with her ventriloquism skills and other-worldly singing voice.

While there’s not much that the vastly talented Darci can’t do, there are many questions about her journey such as her beginnings in a pageant, where her interest in puppets came from, what she did before becoming an entertainer, and what are her musical and artistic influences.

Are you also interested in knowing who she is and how far she has come? Stay here to know all about Darci Lynne’s path to stardom-ship!

Darci’s Beginnings

Born in Oklahoma, USA, on 12 October 2004, Darci Lynne Farmer always had a knack for music, turning her family into her first audience during her early childhood. Nevertheless, Darci’s overwhelming shyness held her back from performing in public, leading her to participate in no-make-up-using talent-centered pageants, following her mother’s suggestion, on top of training in gymnastics.

Darci’s discipline and talents turned out to be a great combination, as from the age of six she won several Cinderella Scholarship Programs contests. As recalled by her mother Misty during an interview with The Oklahoman, Darci cried at her first pageant and couldn’t participate, but was ultimately convinced to try again next time after seeing her cousin on stage.

Joining pageants got the shyness out of Darci, on top of changing her life in different ways. As it happened, it was during the 2014’s International Mini Miss contest that Darci met fellow titleholder Laryssa Bonacquisti, who had also mastered the art of ventriloquism for her talent performances in pageants: ‘I just watched and watched her. I was just super fascinated because I really wanted to learn how to do it’, as Darci also told The Oklahoman. The encounter would inspire Darci to follow the path which ultimately took her to stardom.

Ventriloquism & TV Debut

Inspired by Bonacquisti’s influence, Darci practiced ventriloquism by herself for a month, before joining Edmond’s Got Talent. By combining her yodeling skills and the sympathy of her cowgirl-themed puppet Katie, Darci won her first non-pageant competition.

Noticing Darci’s incredible talent and potential, she was contacted by local ventriloquist Gary Owen, who subsequently taught her everything she had to know about the art. At the same time, she was also trained by Tiana Plemons, in the art of singing through clenched teeth.

Despite taking a while to learn ventriloquism and increase her puppet collection, it was all worth it when she won several contests all around the country, and ultimately made her TV debut in mid-2016. First, she appeared in the show “Little Big Shots” by performing Patsy Montana’s “I Wanna Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” with Katie.

That one performance gained Darci a show in the legendary ventriloquism museum Vent Haven during the International Ventriloquist Convention, becoming the first child to do so in decades. Also in early 2017, Darci reprised her yodeling performance with Katie at the British “Little Big Shots” show, effectively gaining international fame and enough confidence to audition for “America’s Got Talent” later that year.

“America’s Got Talent”

Darci Lynne’s audition in “America’s Got Talent” took place in early 2017 in Austin, Texas, during the private local talent show. Impressed with her outstanding talent, Darci was told to audition for the main show’s 12th season filmed in Los Angeles, where she gained a standing ovation for her rendition of “Summertime” by George Gershwin, with her puppet Petunia.

The best part of that first performance was receiving a Golden Buzzer from Mel B, gaining a direct pass to the quarterfinals. For her second performance, Darci introduced the audience to her puppet Oscar, and sang “Who’s Lovin’ You” by The Jackson 5, once again attracting a standing ovations, and so a spot in the semi-finals.

Darci’s third “America’s Got Talent” appearance saw her performing “You Make Me Feel Like” by Aretha Franklin with her elderly-looking puppet Edna, advancing to the semi-finals where she sang “With a Little Help from My Friends” by The Beatles. For the show’s grand finale, Darci performed “Anything You Can Do” from the movie “Annie Get Your Gun”, successfully defeating her competitors, and becoming the youngest “America’s Got Talent” winner at 12 years of age.

Besides receiving a record-breaking number of votes in her favor, Darci’s performances were warmly received on the internet, becoming an online sensation by amassing over 200 million views on her audition video.

Early Years in Stardom

Darci Lynne’s “America’s Got Talent” victory brought only great things for her career. As early as November 2017, Darci set foot on the stage of Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas as part of her headlining tour prize from the show.

Her sold-out Las Vegas shows were followed by appearances in “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and in Jeff Dunham’s “The Haunted House on Dunham Hill”. She performed as a guest in shows by Pentatonix and Terry Fator, before announcing her solo tour, Darci Lynne and Friends Live in early 2018, starting with five dates only, but later expanding her performances to 52 dates around the country in response to high demand. Due to her busy schedule and growing fame, Darci was home-schooled from eighth grade onwards.

Hey guys, I know it’s been a day, but I wanted say thanks for the experience of a lifetime!!! I cannot thank y’all enough!❤️❤️#blessed @AGT pic.twitter.com/M5a4F1GDjZ

— Darci Lynne (@ItsDarciLynne) September 21, 2017

In late 2017 Darci kicked off her holidays with the Rocking Around the Christmas Tree tour, and closed the year with performances for charity events at Madison Square Garden and Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace. Some of Darci’s most remarkable performances during her first year as a winner include a cameo during the 2018’s Kids Choice Awards, a “Today” interview, and her comeback to the stages of “Little Big Shots” and “America’s Got Talent” as a guest.

In late 2018, Darci starred in her NBC show “Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas”, including appearances by violinist and singer Lindsey Stirling and country singer Toby Keith.

“The Champions” and More

Almost two years after her “America’s Got Talent” victory, Darci Lynne returned to the show’s stage to compete in the spin-off “The Champions”, showcasing her and several other previous winners from the show’s franchise.

For her preliminary audition, Darci performed with her puppet Oscar the songs “Proud Mary” and “Nutbush City Limits” by Tina Turner. Despite the standing ovation she received from Simon Cowell and fellow judges, Darci couldn’t beat opera singer Cristina Ramos during the voting round. She was eliminated, but returned as a wildcard for the finals, in which she sang “Mio Babbino Caro” along with her iconic puppet Petunia, once again receiving standing ovations.

Then in the grand finale, Darci performed Barry Manilow’s “Can’t Smile Without You” along with two puppets. The votes received by Darci for her performance defeated international star Susan Boyle out of the top five spots, but wasn’t enough to win her the competition. Magician Shin Lim was the ultimate winner, leaving Darci in second place in the first season of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions”.

Darci kicked off early 2019, with her tour Fresh Out of the Box, and appeared in several TV shows such as the comedy “All That”, and “The Kelly Clarkson Show”.

Acting Projects

Becoming an “America’s Got Talent” winner and finalist opened many professional doors for Darci Lynne. Following showcasing her acting and comedic skills in her ventriloquism performance, in 2018 she had her first official acting role, by voicing the character Daisy in the show “Fancy Nancy”.

Later in 2020, Darci voiced her puppet Petunia for an episode of the animated series “Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?”, on top of being a panelist in “Nickelodeon’s Unfiltered”; the next year, she voiced The Wombat for an episode of Nickelodeon’s “Side Hustle”.

Darci’s first chance on the big screen came with the film “A Cowgirl’s Song”, in which she played the character Brooke Mays, starring alongside Savannah Lee May and Cheryl Ladd. The movie also featured three original songs by Darci featuring the Oklahoma-based band The Imaginaries.

While Darci’s TV and movie roles might come as a surprise for those following her from her ventriloquist days, she had always wanted to give acting a try, as her big dream is to make it to Broadway someday: ‘I love musical theater, singing, acting and dancing all in one,’ as she once told to Best Of Las Vegas, shortly after her “America’s Got Talent” win in late 2017.

Current Projects & Future

Although ventriloquism has been a big part of Darci Lynne’s career, her future projects could take her away from that puppet-performing arts to other aspects of the entertainment world.

As she said in an interview with Hollywood Life in 2022, releasing original music is a dream Darci plans on accomplishing soon: ‘I just got into writing music in quarantine. Once that started happening, I’ve just come to love it so much,’ she said, affirming that ‘putting out an album’ is one of her goals.

While Darci hasn’t released any music on her own yet, besides the track-list of “A Cowgirl’s Son”, she’s been exploring her musical side recently, and has posted several of her songs covers on social media, along with music sessions with friends on YouTube.

Regarding the acting side, in 2023 she’s set to appear in the biographical movie “Reagan”. She has also become rather popular on social media, accumulating over a million subscribers on her YouTube channel, thanks to her ventriloquist sketches, and almost five million on TikTok.

All in all, Darci has had quite an amazing career so far, starting from her days as a shy kid participating in pageants to becoming a ventriloquist, debuting on TV, to turning into an “America’s Got Talent” winner. Whether life takes her to accomplish her musical and acting dreams, at this point there’s no doubt that Darci is an unstoppable talent.