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School teacher Danyl Johnson made a huge splash this week with his fabulous audition and performance on “X Factor.” Not only does he have a powerful, beautiful voice (and is pretty cute to boot), but Johnson has a great story to go along with it. Johnson was encouraged by his students to audition for the show. But it wasn’t as if he was a novice: he’d actually tried out before and never even made it far enough to perform in front of the judges. And on his second try, he gives what Simon Cowell said was, “‘single-handedly the best first audition I ever heard.’”

After 10 years of kicking around the music business — and being kicked down by it — 27-year-old Danyl Johnson admits he had given up his hopes for stardom. But then students at an arts school in Reading, England, gave their teacher a morale boost.

Drama and dance instructor Johnson now carries the heady title of “the next Susan Boyle” after wowing the judges — including the notoriously hard-to-please Simon Cowell — when he performed in the opening round of a British forebear to “American Idol,” “The X Factor.” Appearing in his first U.S. TV interview, the man with a million-dollar smile and voice to match told TODAY’s Matt Lauer and Ann Curry Thursday he’s still processing his sudden fame — and revealed how his students gave him the push to make one last grab at the brass ring.

“I’ve been singing for about 10 years now, and I didn’t really get much interest,” Johnson said live via satellite from London. “I thought that dream had gone past. The kids have been so supportive and they said I should go into the competition. I just thought, ‘OK, I’ll send an application, and if I hear back I will see what happens from there.’ I’m so glad they got me to do it now, I have to say.”

Johnson can do little but shake his head over the fuss — he’s used to singing in front of dozens, not millions. He had an ill-fated stab at stardom in the British “boy band” Street Level, and he actually auditioned for “The X Factor” in 2006, but was kicked to the curb before he even got to perform for Cowell and his fellow judges.

But after his students spurred him on, Johnson told Lauer and Curry, he decided he wasn’t going to let his chance to shine go to waste. The TV premiere of “The X Factor” meant Johnson got to perform before a live audience of 2,000, by far the biggest crowd he had ever sung before. He wasn’t about to turn into a shrinking violet.

[From MSNBC]

There is something I find so charming about this guy, but I also really want to hug him. Celebitchy thinks he’s straddling the border between confident and cocky, which I can sorta see. But he just is so darn affable that I somehow can’t really see him becoming a diva if he wins the contest. And he seems so genuinely appreciative of the encouragement he’s gotten from his students. I can see how kicking around the music business without luck for ten years would certainly make someone hesitant about trying out for “X Factor.” Danyl’s probably gotten enough rejection not to want to risk it with Simon Cowell. But obviously the kids gave him the push he needed, and now he’s collected more than a million views on YouTube! Something tells me the winner’s already clear.

Here’s Danyl’s audition

X FACTOR 2009 WEEK 1 – DANYL JOHNSON
von littlemisssoccer