Chooka Parker tried out for Australia’s Got Talent in 2011. He was only 16 years old at the time and made the finale. He ended up not winning, as singers or dancers generally win these talent contests. But this is the best piano player yet that I have seen in these competitions. The YouTube video of his Australia’s Got Talent audition went viral and has page views of over 2.5 million hits. Those are excellent statistics for a piano player.
Recently, Chooka played a tribute to Whitney Houston. This was another marvelous performance that could potentially win any contest virtually anywhere. Chooka’s Whitney Houston tribute has user ratings of 85 Likes and only 2 Dislikes.
I have also included the YouTube video of his initial audition, which has over 13,000 Likes and less than 150 Dislikes.
Thank you so much for this article. The Whitney clip is mine, and I’m glad that you found it!!
I am a friend of young maestro and of course I am biased in saying that he is an absolute genius and will go very far. He has continued performing after being on AGT and released a CD in October 2011, called No Worries! which you can check out on iTunes or on Chooka’s official website http://www.chookaparkermusic.com.
I really loved your assessment of how piano music fares in comparison to other genres and I think that you are right in quoting these statistics as being great for a pianist.
Having said that I think that its a little disappointing for myself that classical whether traditional or contemporary is not enjoyed by more people, but I think that pianists like Chooka will bring about a big resurgence in its popularity!