A Golden Buzzer-winning Britain’s Got Talent star is worried that she may miss out on tonight’s live-semi final due to a health condition.
The supermarket worker, 29, wowed the judges in March with her rendition of the hit song Run, as released by Snow Patrol in 2004 and covered by X Factor winner Leona Lewis in 2008.
Chicken roaster Stacey was driven to floods of tears as the audience rose to the feet with a chant of ‘press the buzzer.’
As guest judge KSI complied with the audience’s chanting, the singer was propelled straight through to the semi-finals with a Golden Buzzer, leaving viewers convinced that the show had just found its next winner.
She was set to join the likes of magician Alexandra Burgio, stunt cheerleaders Cheer Re Mans and 11-year-old guitarist OIly Pearson in tonight’s second semi-final.
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However, that may not come to pass – with Stacey being diagnosed with strep throat ahead of the live shows.
‘My voice is only just coming back,’ she told The Mirror.
‘I am still actually on antibiotics. I haven’t been able to sing properly.
‘I have been a bit concerned about this weekend but, hopefully, I’ll be able to do it,’ she added.
Speaking to The Daily Mail following her audition, Stacey revealed how she’d had to retrain her voice due to growing up with a speech impediment.
She explained that while watching a video of herself singing around four or five years ago, it was hard to understand what she was singing because of the ‘severity of speech impediments’ that she had.
‘So during lockdown I used to sit through like adult speech therapy sessions on YouTube and then I’d introduced it into my singing,’ she recalled.
What is strep throat and what are the symptoms?
Strep throat is a bacterial infection that impacts the throat and tonsils, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains.
The condition can develop after a person already has a sore throat. This can take between two to five days.
Symptoms for strep throat can include:
- Fever
- Pain when swallowing
- Red and swollen tonsils, or white patches or pus on the tonsils
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Red spots on the roof of the mouth
For more information, click here.
Stacey added that if she doesn’t do specific exercises for a couple of weeks at a time, then she could ‘revert back’ to how she was before.
This followed years of bullying during her teenage years, with Stacey experiencing mockery when she used to stutter in her high school days.
‘Children unfortunately sometimes can be a bit harsh and I wasn’t the popular girl at school,’ she said.
The singer – who had only performed live once, prior to her Britain’s Got Talent audition – drew comparisons to 2009 runner-up Susan Boyle as she appeared on the show.
‘Susan Boyle moment right there,’ wrote RedPaul on X as the performance aired.
‘Stacey Leadbetter! She could win the whole thing this season with that voice. Stunning. Great song choice too,’ agreed Drew.
‘Got to be one of the favorites to win,’ said Steven Wilcox.
‘She’s definitely destined for for stardom . Bye Bye cooked chicken. She’s fab,’ added Grace Kelly.
Britain’s Got Talent airs Saturdays on ITV1 and ITVX.
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