Melanie Amaro a 19 year-old vacalist from Sunrise, Florida, erupted into a flood of tears when she was announced the winner of X factor USA. Runner ups are 30-year-old singer Josh Krajcik of Wooster Ohio, Chris Rene, a 28-year-old rapper from Santa Cruz, California in third place.
Melanie Amaro
Amaro was born in Miami, Florida, in the United States and was raised in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. She is the daughter of Hipolito Amaro and Debra Sylvester Amaro. At age eleven, she started singing in school musicals, church choirs and sweet sixteens.Amaro attended DnD Music Learning Center, Enid Scatliffe Pre-Primary School, Althea Scatliffe Primary School, BVI High School and graduated from Plantation High School in 2010.The X Factor
Amaro auditioned for the 2011 season of the talent show before judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid in 2011, singing "Listen" by Beyoncé Knowles. After becoming one of the Top 32 finalists, she performed Michael Jackson's "Will You Be There" in the judges' house, in front of her mentor Cowell. Amaro was initially not chosen to be part of the Top 16 and was eliminated from the girls' category. However, Cowell surprised her at her Florida home, inviting her back to the competition after deciding he had made a mistake in not including her.
Amaro progressed to the live shows in Cowell's girls' category, along with Rachel Crow, Drew, Tiah Tolliver and Simone Battle. The addition of Amaro took the total number of qualifiers for the first live show to 17. On December 15 Amaro won a place in the final along with Chris Rene and Josh Krajcik and a week later was declared winner,taking the $5 Million recording contract with Sony Records, which is the largest guaranteed prize in television history.As part of the prize, she will also appear in a Pepsi commercial set to air during Super Bowl XLVI on NBC.
List of performances on X factor
List of performances
| Performance | Theme | Song | Original artist | Order | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Free choice | "Listen" | Beyoncé | N/A | Through to bootcamp |
| Bootcamp 1 | Group performance 1 | "Run to You" | Whitney Houston | Advanced | |
| Bootcamp 2 | Group performance 2 | "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" | U2 | Advanced | |
| Bootcamp 3 | Solo performance | Not aired | Not aired | Through to judges' houses | |
| Judges' houses | No theme | "Will You Be There" | Michael Jackson | Advanced[a] | |
| Top 17 | No theme | "I Have Nothing" | Whitney Houston | 17 | Saved by Simon Cowell |
| Top 12 | Judge's choice | "Desperado" | Eagles | 7 | Safe |
| Top 11 | Songs from movies | "Man in the Mirror" | Michael Jackson | 7 | Safe |
| Top 10 | Rock | "Everybody Hurts" | R.E.M. | 5 | Safe |
| Top 9 | Giving Thanks | "The World's Greatest" | R. Kelly | 3 | Safe |
| Top 7 | Songs by Michael Jackson | "Earth Song" | Michael Jackson | 7 | Safe |
| Top 5 | Dance hits | "Someone Like You" (Remix) | Adele | 1 | Safe |
| Save me songs | "When You Believe" | Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston | 6 | ||
| Top 4 (semi-final) | Pepsi Challenge songs | "Hero" | Mariah Carey | 3 | Safe |
| "Get me to the final" songs | "Feeling Good" | Michael Bublé | 7 | ||
| Top 3 (Final) | Celebrity duets | "I Believe I Can Fly" | R. Kelly | 3 | Winner |
| "$5 million song" | "Listen" | Beyoncé | 6 | ||
| Finale | Christmas songs | "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | Mariah Carey | 1 | |
| Reprise | "Listen" | Beyoncé | N/A |
