This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah has its own version of Susan Boyle - opera singer/nurse Luiz Meneghin, who blew them away on "America's Got Talent" on Tuesday.
One website is already calling him an "early favorite" to win the NBC talent competition.
The 54-year-old native of Brazil, a nurse at an elder-care facility, looked like a regular guy until he started to sing. And then he got a standing ovation from the audience, a standing ovation from judges Howard Stern, Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne, and a ticket to the next round of the auditions.
It wasn't just his talent that made an impression, however. Meneghin charmed Stern and the audience with his story about singing for his elderly patients at a care facility.
His patients encouraged him to audition, and he, his wife and daughter saved for six months to pay for their trip to San Francisco. And they drove there.
"I sing for my patients every day that I work," said the Lehi resident. "They gather after lunch in the lobby and I sing for about half an hour for them.
"I sing opera for them because help them with their bowel movements." he joked.
Beyond that, however, Meneghin talked about how much appearing on the show meant to him. He talked about his "very poor" upbringing and his father buying a "little record play" and classical music "so we could have some exposure to that."
"His dream was [for] one of his kids to make it into the music field," Meneghin said. "And he passed away last year."
And he clearly bowled the judges over. Even Stern, who admitted he is "not an opera fan."
"I'm bored to tears by it," Stern said. "And I don't know what happened. You converted me. Something's going on here."
"I think you are quite fabulous," Osbourne said.
"What you have just done is you have made his dream come true," Mandel said.
Here is a link to Meneghin's "America's Got Talent" performance.