Her innocence and sweetness instantly won hearts, but it was the O’Donnell family’s performance that left everyone in awe. The O’Donnells’ rendition of Lady Gaga in a bluegrass style was nothing short of spectacular!
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The band is made up of husband and wife John Snr (59) and Wendy (57), their children John (28), Jacqui (27), Katelyn (23) and grandkids Johnny (8) and Amy (3). All seven family members sang, making for a helluva stacked vocal line, and everyone pulled their weight with gorgeous harmonies. Four of the family also pulled double duty, adding banjo, bass guitar, acoustic guitar and mandolin to the song.
Jacqui opened the performance with a stunning lead vocal, ably supported by Katelyn and Wendy on backing vocals in the verse. The patriarch John showed himself to be a dab hand at banjo, adding a catchy picking melody that propelled the folk arrangement forward. You can see the band play Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball” later in the season in the video below.
The teams of judges Guy Sebastian, Rita Ora and Jessica Mauboy were already full, so the family’s fate was in the hands of country hitmaker Keith Urban. Before the performance Sebastian quipped “if this is the cutest thing ever and it’s actually good, I’ll be livid. They’ve already won the audience over Keith.”
Sebastian, Ora and Mauboy were instantly on team O’Donnell once they heard the family sing, with Mauboy egging Urban on saying “C’mon Keith!” Urban let the tension build until he heard the chorus, then came through for the O’Donnells and smashed his buzzer. The star turned around just in time for young Amy’s big part singing the chorus refrain, which got a chuckle from Sebastian and put a big smile on Urban’s face.
It seems the collaboration was meant to be, as with Urban’s background in country he was the natural choice to coach the O’Donnells. The star was clearly chuffed with the family’s performance, saying “Oh my gosh, this is crazy. The first thing is, you’ve turned a Lady Gaga song into a gospel / bluegrass number, which would turn any chair.”