This week’s broadcast of America’s Got Talent (AGT) included singer-songwriter Lily Meola’s audition. The California-based touring artist impressed the judges and the live audience on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, with her outstanding performance and stage presence. The artist was one of several participants that demonstrated their abilities in the episode in order to advance in the competition.
When Lily was barely 20 years old, country music great Willie Nelson recognized the genius of her singing and invited her to perform a duet with him for his album To All The Girls. Although country music and Americana are two of her favorite musical genres, she considers dream pop and folk to be her favorite. She wowed judges Simon Cowell, Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel, and Heidi Klum with her passionate presence.
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Lily Meola, an AGT competitor, lost her mother to cancer and turned to music to cope.
Lily Meola grew up in Maui, Hawaii, and currently resides in California. Nancy Meola, her mother, was a well-known public personality in the music industry as the assistant to talent manager Shep Gordon. Lily became one of her mother’s major caretakers after learning of her mother’s cancer diagnosis. Sadly, her mother died in June 2020. Following the loss of her mother, the AGT candidate suffered from grief and melancholy. She admitted to coping with bits and pieces of it in an interview with Rolling Stone. According to the singer:
“I still have hard days, but I’m getting better. Now I’m going on to the next phase of my life, where I’m attempting to accomplish what I began and make my mother proud, wherever she may be.”
To deal with the most devastating loss of her life, she engaged in self-care activities such as baking, traveling to the beach, and seeing one of her closest friends, Willie Nelson’s son, Lukas Nelson.
Lily Music Journey
She engaged herself in music and singing, which helped lead her in the right direction. When her mother forced her to listen to vintage classical and jazz music at an early age, the AGT competitor fell in love with music. Her inspirations were Ella Fitzgerald, Joni Mitchell, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Cat Stevens, and James Taylor. After securing a weekly concert at Café des Amis in Paia, Hawaii, where she sang renditions of her favorite musicians, she quickly took to the stage.
Apart from performing a duet with Willie Nelson, the singer has also joined him during his annual Farm Aid event since 2013. Willie and his musical kids, Lukas and Micah, have also toured with her. Lily spent a lot of time in the studio with producer Bob Rock and grew up with his daughters. The Canadian record producer also assisted her in landing a development agreement with Verve Records, impressing the label’s president at the time, David Foster. However, the agreement did not go through because she was not prepared.
The AGT competitor is now an excellent composer who has worked in the studio with various co-writers to create songs. Among her famous hits are Don’t Stop (2020), Daydream (2021), and Sunshine (2022). Lily has over 21K Instagram followers, to whom she routinely posts updates on her music, performances, and daily activities. In the previous 17 years, America’s Got Talent (AGT) has seen tremendous talent, with some of the performers going on to become household names and achieve international fame. Golden buzzer winners this season are Avery Dixon, Madison Baez, Sara James, and Mayyas.
