A trio of Vancouver Island upstarts are taking their talents to prime-time television.
Dance duo Funkanometry advanced Tuesday to the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent, while rising singer Lauren Spencer-Smith will debut Monday on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Funkanometry dancers Carlow Rush, 20, and Jacksun Fryer, 19, are now officially among the roster of 55 performers competing for the show’s $1-million prize. Contestants will be voted off during upcoming live episodes from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in California, which air weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday starting Aug. 9.
The dancers earned high praise from judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara when they auditioned in June, and have become social media fan favourites of those who follow the show online.
Spencer-Smith, 18, is appearing on The Tonight Show as part of her first-ever North American tour, which stops Aug. 13 in Vancouver at The Imperial. The Dover Bay Secondary graduate is touring to promote her latest single, Narcissist, which was produced by Foo Fighters, Adele, and Paul McCartney collaborator Greg Kurstin.
Previous singles Flowers and Fingers Crossed were hugely successful, with Fingers Crossed reaching No. 2 on the U.S. Spotify chart, and Flowers debuting at No. 1 on iTunes. With eight million monthly listeners on Spotify, 500 million views on TikTok, and a Juno Award nomination under her belt, the fiery teen is expected to make major strides in the coming months.
The prime-time spotlight is nothing new for either camp. Spencer-Smith made it to the Top 20 on ABC’s American Idol in 2020, when she was just 16 years old, while Funkanometry competed as teens in 2019 on NBC’s World of Dance, the Emmy Award-winning reality competition hosted by Jennifer Lopez.
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