Niagara Falls singer in the finals pulled off the sidewalk by Howie Mandel for Canada’s Got Talent

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Published May 15, 2023 at 3:14 pm

Samantha Meave Pearson. a.k.a Meave, was busking in front of Fallsview Casino Resort last October when Howie Mandel plucked her off the sidewalk and onto the OLG Stage for Canada's Got Talent.

Literally thousands of wannabe stars patiently line up for their chance to audition for the TV show Canada’s Got Talent. So odds of making it through the audition successfully are probably less than one-in-5,000.

That has to make the odds of busking in front of Fallsview Casino Resort and being plucked off the sidewalk by judge Howie Mandel to audition, let’s say, one-in-a-million.

Getting yanked from the sidewalk and then making it to the finals? One-in-10 million?

Yet, that’s exactly what happened to busker Samantha Meave Pearson, 25, who goes by the stage-name Meave, who will sing for the $100,000 grand prize in tomorrow’s episode of the show against seven other acts.


Canada’s Got Talent judge Howie Mandel leads Meave off the street and onto the OLG Stage to audition.

Mandel was walking to the OLG Stage at the casino for the auditions last October when he heard singing on the sidewalk. He approached the singer, tipped her $5 and basically took her off the street and onto the stage so she could sing.

With zero time to prepare and no backing accompaniment, she was went on the stage and sang an a-capella version of House of the Rising Sun, the 1964 hit from The Animals.

She blew the judges away and got her four “yes” votes to continue on. A couple of the judges knew Mandel brought her on personally and were half-expecting it to be a joke of some kind.

“My audition experience on Canada’s Got Talent was not typical,” the singer seriously understated. “I had no idea that I was out front of the building where they are filming Canada’s Got Talent.”

“It’s just so strange to think about what a difference a day can make.”

A Hamilton native, Meave moved to Thorold some time back and started busking in Niagara Falls about a year ago. She fully admits that she was just singing out front to help make her rent.

Meave, now the only Ontario performer left on stage, sailed through the semifinal round after singing You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette.

So Niagara residents may want to tune into the finals tomorrow (May 16) on Citytv and Citytv+ starting at 8 p.m. (5 p.m. PT) to cheer her on.

Here’s a clip from the show re-enacting Mandel approaching her and the semi-final winning performance.

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