Kenyan Teen Who Rocked Britain's Got Talent

Sarah Ikumu is a pop musician who was born in Milton Keynes, England to Kenyan parents.

At the tender age of fifteen, Sarah was a semifinalist in the British talent show, Britain's Got Talent on April 24, 2017, where she earned a golden buzzer affording her the opportunity to feature in the live shows, BBC News reported.

Sarah wowed the audience of about 12,000 when she performed her own version of renown singer Jennifer Hudson's 'And I am telling you I'm Not Going'.

Prior to the landmark feat, she was the recipient of the Milton Keynes Young Musician Award when she performed a cover to one of Aretha Franklin's songs.

The budding pop artist experienced yet another groundbreaking achievement in her career when she featured at legendary American musical show, Live at Apollo at the age of 17 in early 2019.

Speaking to NTV's Anita Nderu during an episode of The Trend, Sarah revealed that she was initially not into the idea of doing shows but later opened up to the idea.

"When I was invited to audition, my mother and I said no because I have never liked competitions before, but with time we decided to try it out," Sarah revealed.

Like many successful musicians, she ventured into singing at a tender age. She found her interests around music and singing in church to be of much help in her career.

"I did not like playing with toys, I played with things like the Karaoke machine, singing to friends [and] performing to my parents.

"My father has his own church and I used to perform there, so that is how it really started," she added.

At the age of 14, Sarah would visit recording studios and do music covers then upload them to YouTube and people would invite her to perform. Her mother also played a key role in getting her competitions to feature in.

Reminiscing on her entry into BGT, Sarah revealed that she was emailed by a person who had watched her perform, and after presenting a series of her videos for the audition, she got the nomination.

She recounted her performance at the show stating that she was at no point distracted by the audience's reaction to her voice and feature in general.

"When I am singing I concentrate on singing, so when the people are standing up am just in the zone, so when it happened (the golden buzzer), I never got to enjoy the feeling because it happened so quick," Sarah stated.

As an aspiring musician, she expressed her desire to work with her role model, American pop artist Beyonce Knowles, but most interestingly her desire to work with a section of Kenyan artists.

"In ten years I want to collaborate with Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Adelle and Kenyan artists, Sauti Sol," she stated.

Sarah has had the opportunity to live in Kenya for two years and cherishes the experience she had touring the country's rich coast, Diani beach to be exact. 

The teenage sensation has toured the world and was privileged to perform at the Hurricane Maria Memorial in the Dominican Republic on September 23, 2019.

"Firstly I’d like to thank the Government of Dominican Republic for inviting me to perform at the Hurricane Maria Memorial and their hospitality during my visit," Sarah stated in appreciaition.

"I’d also like to thank all the Dominican people for welcoming me with open arms and being some of the nicest people I’d ever met," she added.