Dandenong raised Andrew De Silva took out the top prize of Australia”s Got Talent last week.
By NICOLE WILLIAMS
DANDENONG’S home-grown pop-star took out the big prize on Channel 7’s Australia’s Got Talent last Wednesday.
Singer/songwriter Andrew De Silva was voted by the public as the winner of the television talent contest and took home $250,000 in prize money.
He performed his original song, Now That I Believe, at the Grand Final against Tasmanian country band, The Wolfe Brothers.
The father of two said the win was like a dream come true.
“It was just an amazing moment. This is all a dream come true… I feel amazing,” he said.
“It’s just such a beautiful way for it to come to an end and in a way it’s actually a new beginning.”
Andrew was 22-years-old when, after three successful years he had to drop out of ’90s ARIA-winning boy band CDB, because of a cancer diagnosis.
A decade later and now 37, Andrew was working as a wedding singer when he auditioned for Australia’s Got Talent.
Andrew struggled after his audition due to embarrassment over a stutter and even tried to pull out of the show.
He attended a four-day intensive course to help eliminate stutter and he gained the confidence to continue and eventually win the competition.
Having grown up in North Dandenong, he started singing at three-years-old and told the Star in June that he was inspired by his father who was “a bit of a pop star back home” (in Sri Lanka).
The former Nazareth College student spoke highly of his childhood in Dandy, saying that the culturally diverse region exposed him to different music styles.
“There was a lot of Rn’B and hiphop around there,” he said.
“There were lots of dance crews, rappers and it was all happening around the area.”
