Long Island Teen Back On 'America's Got Talent' Tuesday Night

PATCHOGUE, NY — Long Island teen Christian Guardino, who wowed the judges and got the Golden Buzzer in June on "America's Got Talent," will be back on the show, performing Tuesday.

AGT's quarterfinals begin Tuesday night; the show airs on NBC at 8 p.m., and, according to justjaredjr.com, 11 of the top 36 performers will be spotlighted, including Guardino — and a wild card chosen by the judges.

Meanwhile, Guardino, 17, has set social media on fire as friends and strangers cheer him on both locally and around the world.

Christian's mother Beth Guardino spoke to Patch about the story of her son, a baby who was born nearly blind — and whose success is a story so miraculous that it moves those who hear it to tears.

Her son, Guardino said, has had music in his soul from the moment he was born.

Christian, who turned 17 on the day after his audition for AGT and attends the Patchogue-Medford High Schoiol, "has been singing for a long as he can remember," she said.

Born with extremely poor vision, Guardino said a vision teacher came to work with him with an eye toward early intervention.

"He started humming to those videos, and it was definitely recognizable; he was humming 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.' He was 5 months old."

Later, Guardino would give her baby son a bath, and she'd sing scales for him; from the first, he'd repeat them back to her.

"He was always really interested in music," she said.

Despite his vision challenges, gene therapy, his mom said, helped immensely. While he used to be night blind, when he went to audition, he was able to see.

"If he'd gone to audition before gene therapy, he would never have been able to see the judges or the audience," Guardino said, her voice laced with tears.

When she watched the playback of the audition, she saw her son looking to Simon Cowell, trying to judge his reaction. "Prior to that, he'd have been looking into the darkness," she said.

Since the gene therapy four years ago, when normal genes are transplanted into cells to correct genetic disorders, a new world has dawned, literally, for her son.

"He's seen stars for the first time, the snow falling," she said.

When he first got his vision back, Christian told his mom it was like being a toddler, learning how to use his eyes.

Wowing America

Christian was told about the audition for AGT at Queens College by a friend who's also a manager. "They loved him," Guardino said.

Next, he headed to California for the audition before celebrity judges.

"When he got the Golden Buzzer," — the Golden Buzzer means a contestant is propelled straight to the live performances — "it was absolutely surreal," Guardino said. "It was like watching our story come full circle. To see where our struggles were, and where we've arrived, it's a miracle."

As a mother, the joy is profound.

"When he was a baby I used to hold him, feed him. Other infants his age would stare at their moms, who'd smile back at them," she said. Because of her son's limited vision, she said, "We didn't have that facial regard. I used to cry, thinking, 'Is my child ever going to know my face? Be independent?' It was heartbreaking."

But love and belief kept the Guardino family strong.

"It's all about faith," Guardino said. "I really feel like God had a hand on his life from the very beginning. I knew there was something really special about him, that he was meant to do something to inspire, make some light in this really dark world. I feel like that's why people have reacted so strongly."

His amazing voice when he sang the Jackson 5's "Who's Lovin' You," scoring the golden buzzer from judge Howie Mandel, had the audience and judges alike captivated.

And the judges didn't even know his story, the vision challenges he'd had to face, his mom said.

"After the Golden Buzzer we were leaving the building but had to walk around the side and Simon Cowell called out to us," praising Christian and saying he hadn't learned of his story till after the audition, she said. "That's what makes it more touching, people are responding to his performance, his humility — to him."

The global response, Guardino said, has been unbelievable, with interview requests coming from as far away as Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the Netherlands, and her husband Nino's hometown of Sciacca, Sicily, even reached out — Nino works at PeraBell in Riverhead, where a crowd is also cheering on Guardino both in real life and on social media.

"I'm absolutely floored," she said.

But her son has remained true to himself.

"He has this incredible musical gift and then, to be that humble about it. He really is not a kid who goes back to school and starts bragging," she said. "He doesn't even talk about it."

Instead, it was back to school for finals and regular life for Christian, his mom and dad and his brother Nicholas, who's an avid soccer player.

An adoring public, however, has taken Christian and his beautiful voice into their hearts. "We can't go anywhere without people recognizing him. We knew it was going to get big after he got the Golden Buzzer, but we had no idea," his mother said. "All of a sudden, people have started staring. But we're just a simple, humble, middle-class family."

Her son's musical influences, his mom said, include Stevie Wonder. "Meeting him one day is one of his dreams."

Other favorites include Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Ray Charles. And when he's not singing, Christian is passionate about critiquing films, his mom said.

His family assures Christian will hold tightly to his core values and not become starstruck by Hollywood glamour.

"Our whole attitude is that this could all change tomorrow. We're just going to be who we've always been, who we're meant to be — and enjoy it," Guardino said.

As for her son, the AGT journey has made his future shine even more brightly.

"This is all he wants to do," Guardino said. "This experience has confirmed to me that this is what this child is meant to do."

Photo, video via YouTube