A parish priest from OldCastle, Co. Meath, Ireland, who auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent (BGT), a popular TV program in the United Kingdom,
captivated everyone’s hearts despite the multiple problems the Catholic church is currently dealing with.
At the time of his audition for BGT in 2014, Father Ray Kelly was 64 years old. Mr. Simon Cowell served as the show’s chief adjudicator.
Fr. Ray had the opportunity to introduce himself and crack jokes with the judges when he was called to the stage.
The 64-year-old priest selected ‘Everybody Hurts,’ an original song by the well-known American rock band R.E.M. from Athens, Georgia in the United States.
Standing ovations and tremendous applause from the judges and the live audience of the competition literally brought down the house as he sang the song.
Fr. Kelly said, ‘My parents were musicians.’ ‘We were held up like trophies every time we got to share our talents growing up in a musical
family,’ ‘I knew I could perform reasonably well, but I never anticipated the incredible comments from the judges.’
Fr. Kelly enjoys watching BGT and would definitely like to give it a shot. But before he made the decision to audition, he gave it a lot of thought.
‘I decided to put myself forward without really knowing what to expect,’ he joked.
Fr. Kelly, however, became a social media celebrity even before appearing on the talent show when he was
caught on camera performing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah during a wedding in his parish church. Over 10 million people watched the YouTube video that was posted.
‘I’m going to share something with you. One of my all-time favorite auditions is this one! I find your voice to be lovely.
I adore this song’s rendition. Everything we’ve been hoping for is here. I adored it to the fullest. Simon said.