'You made our show great': Peoria native earns Golden Buzzer in 'America's Got Talent' debut
PEORIA — LiV Warfield's performance was worth its weight in gold Tuesday on the NBC reality competition show, "America's Got Talent."
The Peoria-born 1997 Notre Dame High School graduate dominated the stage and earned a Golden Buzzer from judge Simon Cowell with a stunning performance backed by a band that included two guitar players, four horns and a drummer.
Where is LiV Warfield from? Peoria native will sing on upcoming episode of NBC's America's Got Talent
"I’ve been on a lot of stages and I’m just glad to be here to be able to do the music and do what I love, to be able to represent that," Warfield told judges Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara before delivering a high-powered performance that had the audience, and the judges, on their feet.
"I have been doing this for a long time and the music industry is hard," Warfield said. "Things have changed over time. I continue to push because I feel I have a story. I want to inspire people because I haven’t quit, and I won’t."
What is a Golden Buzzer on AGT?
Warfield toured with Prince and collaborated with Heart's Nancy Wilson and performed on many national shows while putting out two albums and trying to carve out a space as a top artist. The former PND track star in Tuesday's broadcast sang her original song, "Stare," in which the lyric "wrecking ball" captivated Cowell and earned a press of the so-called Golden Buzzer.
"It was like being, in a good way, punched in the face," Cowell said. "Great things are going to happen (for you) after this. You made our show great."
Because of Cowell's single button press, Warfield now advances automatically to the AGT live shows, which according to NBC Insider "can be a huge game-changer" since most acts need at least three "yes" votes from judges to avoid elimination and advance.
"The Golden Buzzer is essentially a shiny gold exception to the typical AGT Audition process," Insider wrote.
Who is Liv Warfield?
Warfield is a singer-songwriter with nationally respected chops in rock and soul/R&B and has multiple albums to her resume.
Born Olivia Warfield, the daughter of a Pentecostal deacon began her journey in Peoria on a much smaller stage that uncovered her stunning voice when she sang at the Irish's school mass one day in her senior year.
She graduated from Notre Dame in 1997, where her identity was established as an athlete, a track star who still holds school records in the 100- and 200-meters races and who later went on to Portland State on a track scholarship.
Legendary artist Prince chose her for his New Power Generation in 2009. She toured with the band for five years and is on his album Lotusflow3r.
Warfield put out her second album "The Unexpected" in 2014, and it was backed by the horns from the New Power Generation and executive produced by Prince, who also wrote or co-wrote two of the songs.
Heart's Nancy Wilson saw Warfield on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" and in 2015 chose her as the opening act for Heart's Hollywood Bowl concert. Wilson and Warfield went on to form Roadcase Royale in 2016, a band leaning on rock R&B and ballads.
Now Warfield has reached center stage on NBC's big show, and established herself as a contender.
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or [email protected]. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: AGT Golden Buzzer: Peoria, Illinois, singer LiV Warfield wows on 'America's Got Talent'
