'America's Got Talent' finalists wow judges

[March 19, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The "America's Got Talent" finalists did it their way -- and the judges loved it.

Piers Morgan called the Texas Tenors, a cheesy trio of cowboy-hat-wearing crooners from Houston who performed Frank Sinatra's "My Way," his new "guilty pleasure," while David Hasselhoff said Voices of Glory, an inspirational singing sibling act from Highland, N.Y., had a "slam dunk" with their rendition of Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All."

Viewer votes will determine which of the 10 finalists will win a chance to headline a Las Vegas show and the $1 million grand prize. Before the fourth season winner is crowned Wednesday, Susan Boyle, the Scottish sensation of "Britain's Got Talent," will make her U.S. TV singing debut. Leona Lewis, Shakira and Rascal Flatts are also scheduled to perform.

More than half of the final 10 acts competing to win the NBC talent competition are singers, including vocalist Lawrence Beamen from Walnut Creek, Calif.; opera singer Barbara Padilla from Houston; singer-songwriter Kevin Skinner, a chicken farmer from Mayfield, Ky.; and crooner Drew Stevyns, of Sykesville, Md. Sharon Osbourne had only one criticism for Stevyns.

"I think your trousers could be tighter," she teased him.

The judges were also pleased with the moves of the Fab Five, power tap-dancing sisters from Morgan, Utah, who clogged alongside acrobats to Britney Spears' "Circus." They seemed less impressed with Hairo Torres' solo breakdancing routine set to Ne-Yo's "Closer." Morgan said a subdued Torres, of Grants Pass, Ore., had "lost the fun" of his previous routines.

Grandma Lee, the only comedian in the finals, was carried onto the stage by four burly men and delivered her sauciest material yet. Acerbic British judge Morgan, the butt of many of Lee's jokes, gave the 75-year-old comedian from Jacksonville, Fla., a standing ovation -- even after she said "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell was her new "baby daddy."

The most acclaim went to the evening's final act: Recycled Percussion, a quartet of rhythm makers from Goffstown, N.H., who use found objects as instruments. Their water-soaked rendition of The Beach Boys' "Wipeout" left Osbourne gushing that they "belong in Vegas." Morgan called Recycled Percussion's routine an "absolutely brilliant way to end a brilliant show."

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[Associated Press; By DERRIK J. LANG]

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