Connie Talbot rose to fame as a six-year old on the first series of Britain's Got Talent in 2007.
The youngster stole the nation's heart with her sweet performance of The Wizard of Oz's Over the Rainbow, which saw her finish in second place behind opera singer, Paul Potts. Simon Cowell soon described her as "pure magic" and declared he could make her a millionaire within a year.
However, after a deal with his record label fell through over concerns over her young age, Connie signed with the aptly-named Rainbow Recording Company and her debut album sold well. It led to her travelling to Asia and the US to promote it, whilst a Christmas record soon followed.
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Connie returned to BGT in 2019 for The Champions' edition of the ITV show, where she sang an original track, Never Give Up On Us. She went on to release her first ever EP as an adult, Growing Pains, last year, meanwhile, with her image a far cry from her child star look. Now, we look back at other key aspects of the 23-year old's career to date.
Stunning transformation
Connie clearly looks unrecognisable today having transoformed Whilst she rarely provides updates concerning her private life, she uploads snaps to Instagram to coincide with her latest releases. She marked her 23rd birthday in November with a couple of shots released alongside her new music.
With her long blonde tresses flowing by her side, Connie perched on a stool and donned a pink mini-dress. She added to her look with white cotton socks and pink heels, prompting one fan to gush: "Wow, smoking hot." Another added: "You are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. And a third said: "So effortlessly pretty."
In her most recent post, on New Year's Eve, Connie penned that she had "learned so much about herself" in 2023 and was looking forward to releasing new music in 2024. "Thank you for always listening, and being here. I am so so grateful," she said. "What a privilege it is to have another year with family and friends by our side. My 2024 New Year’s resolution is to see some of you in person and sing with you. Can’t wait for what’s to come, thank you again- love you."
Star in Asia
After her BGT stint, Connie's team were soon made aware of her popularity in the Far East and decided to make a go of her career there. Her releases there sold by the bucket load, and in 2010, she opened a concert celebrating South Korea's hosting of the G20 summit of world leaders. Then, to mark the Chinese New Year of 2011, she performed to her largest ever audience on the country's state television.
Connie later explained: "My career went more towards the Asian side of the world. I've always had very loyal followers over there so I'm very grateful for that. I spend a lot of time there. Over here I still have quite a few amazing and loyal people who follow me, but most of my career has been in Asia."
Connie first teased an acting career on the back of her Korean success, meanwhile. In 2022 she said: "I've been offered to act in some Korean Dramas, South Korean episodes and series - which is exciting, especially following the success of Squid Game. Acting was never an intention of mine, music will always be my first love and my main focus. But it would be nice to venture into something that is so close to the music industry."
Growing Pains
Having transformed her image, Connie released her first music as an adult in July 2023. Talking about the title track from the EP, she revealed at the time on Insatgram: "Writing this song came in a time in my life where I had just moved out and decided I was going to write my first ever independent EP as an adult. Growing Pains for me is about the struggles of growing up and how we never really stop growing. I grew up in the music industry, which did come with its lows as much as the highs were amazing.
"I feel like there is an unspoken pressure especially when you hit your twenties to have your whole life together, I hope this song reminds people that the struggles in the past make us who we are today, and the truth is – we never stop learning and growing and it’s okay to not have your whole life together. Do we ever have our life together lol? Not to be cliché – but we really only have one life, I want to embrace every ‘growing pain’ I have been through and no doubt will go through."
Move to acting
Last year Connie made her movie debut in the Western romance musical, The Key to the West. She had previously alluded to a change in her career after sharing snaps to her Instagram account from Hollywood.
"LA is one of my favourite places in the world, I'm planning to shoot a movie, it's either going to be shooting in autumn of this year or spring of next year" Connie later told BirminghamLive. "It's going to be in Montana and LA, it will be really exciting to spend some time over there. The movie is a Western romance musical, I will get to do my first acting role."
She went on to reveal she discovered her "love" for acting during lockdown, but it came as major surprise that she landed her first major role as a lead so quickly. "I had an email from a movie producer, he said he had this project coming up but he was pretty stuck he didn't know how to go about a musical Western movie," Connie said.
"I was randomly played on a Spotify playlist [he was listening to] and he thought oh, her voice would fit into the idea he had, he researched it and found me. It's a really small world but I am really excited to be a part of it."
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