Brandon Leake is a poet from Season 15 of America's Got Talent. He was the winner of the competition, claiming the $1,000,000 prize, a new car, and the headlining of a show in Las Vegas. He returned for America's Got Talent: All-Stars where he finished in 2nd place in his Preliminary week.
Background[]
Brandon Leake is an award-winning spoken word poet, artistic educator and motivational speaker from Stockton, California.
Brandon has performed in locations such as New Zealand, Mexico, Canada and 36 U.S. states for his Dark Side Tour, which promotes his first-ever published poetry chapbook and his album Deficiencies: A Tale From My Dark Side, which is rooted in transparency and healing.
Brandon is also the founder and CEO of Called to Move, an organization that aids youth in self-actualizing and personally developing through the art of poetry. This pursuit led to Brandon leading workshops around the world with several curricula he developed himself.
Audition[]
Brandon Leake's audition in Episode 1506 consisted of reciting a spoken word poem about his late sister. Moved by his performance, Howie Mandel pressed his Golden Buzzer, sending Brandon directly to the Quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals[]
Brandon Leake's Quarterfinals performance in Episode 1515 consisted of reciting a spoken word poem about mother love and racial injustice. Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara all gave him standing ovations. Brandon received enough votes to advance to the Semifinals in Episode 1516 instead of CA Wildcats and Divas & Drummers of Compton.
Semifinals[]
Brandon Leake's Semifinals performance in Episode 1517 consisted of reciting a spoken word poem in the form of letters to his dad about how he missed out on many of Brandon's major life moments, eventually making peace. Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara all gave him standing ovations. Brandon received enough votes to advance to the Finals in Episode 1518 instead of Thomas Day.
Finals[]
Brandon Leake's Finals performance in Episode 1521 consisted of reciting a spoken word poem in the form of a prayer to his daughter Aaliyah. Howie Mandel gave him a standing ovation.
Finale[]
For the finale in Episode 1522, Brandon Leake performed a short spoken word piece prior to the results about Season 15. He received enough votes to enter the Top 5 instead of Archie Williams. Brandon was announced as the winner ahead of Broken Roots, Cristina Rae, Roberta Battaglia and Alan Silva, winning $1 million, a new KIA, and the headlining of a show in Las Vegas.
All-Stars Preliminary[]
Brandon Leake's Preliminary performance in Episode AS06 consisted of performing a spoken word poem about a homeless man he met on the street with a moral of not judging a book by its cover. Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Simon Cowell all gave him standing ovations. He received enough votes from the Superfans to enter the Top 3 of the night. He finished ahead of Josh Blue but behind Kodi Lee, eliminating him from the competition.
After the Show[]
Brandon returned as a guest performer in Episode 1610 performing a spoken word piece about his hometown of Stockton. He will be part of the AGT Live residency and has a movie in the works.
Trivia[]
- Brandon Leake is the first spoken word poet act to receive the Golden Buzzer and the first poetry act to advance to the Finals.
- In Brandon's Finals performance, it was mentioned that he auditioned for Season 12. He did not make it to the audition round and was rejected by the producers.
- Brandon is Howie Mandel's second (third if counting The Champions) Golden Buzzer winner, following Grace VanderWaal and V.Unbeatable.
- He is the first novelty act to win the competition.
- Brandon Leake is the first winner since Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. in Season 6 to perform in the first half of the grand finals episode as well as the first African American winner since Landau.
- All four judges were never present every time Brandon performed. Heidi missed his first audition, due to being ill, while Simon missed his live show performances, due to recovering from his back injury.
- Brandon is the first poet to pass the audition round.
- He is the fifth Golden Buzzer act to win in AGT history, the first being Paul Zerdin, the second being Grace VanderWaal, the third being Darci Lynne, and the fourth being Kodi Lee.
- If The Champions counted, V.Unbeatable would also fit this category, making them the fifth Golden Buzzer to win overall and making Brandon the sixth.
- All-Stars marked Brandon's first competitive AGT performance in front of a live audience.
External Links[]
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