The choir, which performed “Lean on Me,” is composed of 18 nurses from 10 Northwell Health hospitals and medical centers in New York, and what makes the choir special is the members are all frontline nurses, not professional singers. “We need you,” Simon said. “The world needs you. It is going to touch a lot of people. I am going to remember this audition.” And Sofia added, “It was beautiful, heartfelt to see how you were moving around and having fun. It was dynamic. I loved it. It was perfection.” “I had chills when all of you were singing,” Heidi added. “It was so beautiful to watch, especially the words to the song that we all have to lean on each other. I loved it.” But it was Howie who was the most touched by the performance, saying, “One word comes to mind. It is heroic in every way. What a perfect song. You stand by people you don’t know. You watch horror and I just thought, ‘I want to stand by you.’” So, saying, he hit the Golden Buzzer. “You are the most inspiring moment I have had in the last year, not only for who you are but for what you do,” Howie added. And Winnie Mele who acted as a spokesperson for the choir, told the judges and the audience, “For a year, we put our singing in a box. It was just not part of our lives. As the sun is starting to come out and things are looking better, we have an opportunity to stand here at America’s Got Talent and say this is an opportunity of a lifetime for all of us. Thank you so much.” Winnie, who lived through the AIDs epidemic, said that as sad as that was, everybody didn’t die within three months like with COVID-19. “That’s what takes my breath away when I think about what happened,” she said. “It was crushing for all of us. It has been a dark, trying time for all of us, but the one thing that’s bringing us a little bit of light, a little bit of hope, is music.” America’s Got Talent airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
