Stacey Leadbeatter wowed the Britain's Got Talent judges and received the golden buzzer from KSI, but she has been on a long journey to get to where she is today
Stacey Leadbeatter, who received the golden buzzer on Britain's Got Talent, stunned everyone with her singing talent during the ITV show. However, many were unaware that the supermarket employee had only performed once before her BGT success and had to retrain her voice due to a speech impediment.
The 29-year-old mother from Birstall, Leeds, opened up about her journey to the Mirror, saying: "It is extremely hard," and shared how she tackled her speech issues.She said: "I have a video of me singing from four or five years ago and you couldn't actually understand properly what I was singing due to the severity of speech impediments.
So during lockdown what I used to do is I used to sit through like adult speech therapy sessions on YouTube and then I'd introduced it into my singing."
Stacey also mentioned the ongoing effort to maintain her improved speech. "If I don't do certain exercises for say a couple of weeks at a time, I will start to revert back to how I was," she explained.
Reflecting on her childhood, Stacey spoke of the difficulties she faced at school, including being bullied for her stutter. "In high school I used to stutter a bit and people would mimic me," she said, adding, "Children unfortunately sometimes can be a bit harsh and I wasn't the popular girl at school."
Stacey recounted how negative remarks have only fuelled her ambition and resolve to achieve – a determination clearly evidenced in last night's episode of Britain's Got Talent. Her remarkable performance of Leona Lewis' rendition of Snow Patrol's 'Run' earned her a standing ovation from judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, and Alesha Dixon.
Guest judge KSI was so captivated that he pressed his golden buzzer in her favour. It's a stretch to imagine that before BGT, Stacey had only ever sung to an audience of about 50 people in a local pub, having turned down invitations to sing at weddings and parties out of fear and low self-esteem.
Detailing the catalyst behind her BGT audition, she said: "I sing on TikTok and people said I needed to apply. When the opportunity came up, I though it's now or never. It's always been a dream of mine to sing in front of Simon Cowell because I've watched him since we were a little girl. I've always wanted to impress him."
Her passion for singing ignited as a child after watching Grease with her mother, which led to receiving a karaoke machine at age 10. She dedicatedly polished her vocal skills in her room, yet confesses to being too timid to perform for the customers at the cafe in Booths supermarket, close to where she lives in Keighley.
She said: "I don't sing to them, I'm actually really shy. I just don't have the confidence. I've had people like message me asking me to sing at their weddings and at parties. I just make excuses like I don't have the right equipment. I overthink about what people think of me. But now I've done the scariest thing in the world and I'm working on my confidence. It's just about retraining your brain. I think the confidence will hopefully come with the Britain's Got Talent performance."
Stacey beamed as she recounted her golden buzzer moment on BGT, marking an incredible start to 2025, which also saw her engagement to childhood friend Richard after a reunion years later. "I've known him since I was 17," she said, recalling their long-standing connection.
"We've always been with other people, but had that connection there and never acted on it. And then we both became single last year and we decided to meet up to see if that connection's still there and it clearly is. He proposed to me on his birthday this year in front of his family and his children."
The couple are joyously planning their wedding for 2027. She said: "He's the proudest fiance. He'll listen to me sing all the time and we love a karaoke night."
Stacey has opened up about the challenges she faced raising her 10-year-old daughter Aaralyn as a single mother. "I've done it pretty much on my own, me and her dad broke up when she was one," she shared.
"I've had a couple relationships between, but unfortunately the men weren't so kind to me. So it's pretty much been me and my daughter the whole time. She's everything to me. She's my little biggest fan. We sing the Whitney Houston song I Will Always Love You together, it's our song."
Reflecting on a tough period two years ago, Stacey is now optimistic about what lies ahead. She expressed her disbelief at how things have turned around: "If you'd have told 2023 me what's happening now, I wouldn't have believed it. I had some personal things going on. I just didn't deal with them very well and I was in a bad place. Now I'm newly engaged and on BGT. It's mad."
With aspirations of performing in the West End, Stacey sees Britain's Got Talent (BGT) as a stepping stone towards her dream. "Just being able to sing on a stage in front of people and making people happy with my voice, that's all I want," she stated.
