Connie Victoria Elizabeth Talbot (born 20 November 2000)[1] is a British singer[2] who was the runner-up of the first series of Britain's Got Talent in 2007.

Talbot initially auditioned for the first series of television reality show Britain's Got Talent for fun, but her confidence increased when Simon Cowell, whom she is said to have idolised,[citation needed] described her as "pure magic" and said that he would make her earn "£1 million-plus this year".

[4] On the night of the final, she sang The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow", but lost to Paul Potts as a result of the call-in vote.

[7][8] According to journalist and Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, Talbot's performances resulted in many children, including Faryl Smith, auditioning for the second series of the show.

After recording two songs in London with Talbot ("Over the Rainbow" and "Smile"[citation needed]), the label pulled out of the deal.

[citation needed] Experts predicted that she had a good chance of getting the Christmas number one,[14] but the single was cancelled in favour of an album-first release.

Sharon said "[Talbot]'s been sent a script, I haven't had a good look at it yet but it's really exciting ... Connie's a singer, not an actress, so we'll see what happens.

"[18] Sharon Mawer of Allmusic praised Over the Rainbow by saying "She can sing, for a seven-year old, and most of the notes (if not all of them) are in the right order and sung to the right pitch; the timing is fine too".

[21] Nick Levine, of Digital Spy, said in a review of the album that Talbot had a "sweet, pure voice", but that there is "no nuance or depth to her performance".

[25] The tour made stops in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and Talbot and her family returned to England in late May.

[11] Over the Rainbow's release in the United States in September,[27] resulted in attention from American press sources including Fox Business Network and MarketWatch.

[30] In August 2008, it was announced that Talbot had signed a contract with Data Design Interactive for production of a video game on the Wii console.

[32] The game was scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2009,[30] and was to be called Connie Talbot: Over the Rainbow,[33] but was quietly cancelled due to licensing reasons over the songs to be used.

[33] Talbot appeared at Walsall's HMV branch shortly after the release of her Christmas Album to sign copies and meet fans.

[41] Connie Talbot's Christmas Album was difficult to obtain in Britain after the distributor, Pinnacle Entertainment, went into administration.

Talbot's mother, Sharon, was quoted as saying "We don't really know what's going to happen at the moment ... We think they'll probably wait and promote the album later this year.

"[42] Reviewing the album for FemaleFirst magazine, Ruth Harrison gave it 4/5, saying that Talbot has "a great voice when it comes to swing, but lets us down in parts".

The United States album is dedicated to the Toys for Tots campaign, of which Talbot has been named the child ambassador.

[49][50] Talbot opened a special concert celebrating South Korea's hosting of the G20 summit of world leaders in 2010.

[61] Talbot toured with the Young Voices choir for a second year in early 2013, performing at venues across the UK.

[63][64] In October 2013, Talbot's vocals featured in the theme song of the newly-released video game Rain,[65] and she appeared as a special guest at the African Children's Choir concert in Walsall, UK.

[66][67] In 2014, she performed two concerts in South Korea (Osan and Seoul) in late April, shortly after the Sewol ferry tragedy.

[68] In July, a DVD and Blu-ray was released of her concerts in Hong Kong and Taiwan during her Beautiful World tour in 2012.

[73] On 11 May 2017, Connie Talbot released a song called "Good to Me", which she stated is "about a person who I admired, respected and who taught me so much.

[76] On 27 January 2020 she competed on America's Got Talent: The Champions, where she performed her romantic original song "I Would" on the piano.